Prince of Ice
by HeyAssButtImBatman
Summary: It's not until his coronation that Gabriel learns why his brother has been hiding away in his room all his life: he has ice magic, and he can't control it. Now, with an unnatural winter threatening his kingdom, Gabriel must journey out with the help of a mountain man named Sam in order to find his brother and stop the winter. AKA That Supernatural Frozen AU Nobody Asked For
1. Chapter 1

"Psst!"

If you were to ask Castiel, he'd say that there was a mistake in birth order. He was supposed to be born before Gabriel, so to make up for it, the Powers That Be make Gabriel act like the mature older brother and Gabriel like the immature younger brother.

"Castiel!"

If you were to ask Gabriel, he'd say that he acts exactly how someone his age is supposed to, and Castiel is just abnormally serious.

"Castiel, wake up!"

But despite how serious Castiel normally is, there are times when he lets go and acts like the kid he is.

"Cas!"

Castiel cracks open one eye and finds his older brother's face just inches from his own, his eyebrows furrowed and his mouth twisted into a pout. When he sees that Castiel is awake, his face lights up.

"Let's go play," he says. Castiel whines in protest and burrows further into his pillow.

"Too tired," he grumbles. He scrunches up his face when Gabriel pokes his cheek.

"Do you want to build a snowman?" Gabriel asks slyly. Castiel can't help the smile that spreads slowly across his face, and when he opens his eyes he sees the expression mirrored on his brother's.

"Fine," Castiel says, and Gabriel's grin grows. He can always get Castiel to do what he wants, and they both know it. "But just for a little bit."

Their parents' room is right next to their own, so they sneak into the hallway as quietly as they can. As soon as they leave the wing that houses the royal bedrooms, they take off running for the nearest ballroom.

Castiel gets there first even though Gabriel's legs are longer, and as soon as they're both inside he lets the door slam shut with a deafening _bang!_

"Shh!" Gabriel hisses, and Castiel winces. Gabriel grabs his hand and drags him to the middle of the room, where he proceeds to bounce in place excitedly. "Do the magic!"

"Okay, okay!" Castiel says, giggling. He rubs his hands together until he's built up a good sized ball of snow, and then he tosses it up into the air, where it explodes into a blue spark; seconds later, snow begins to fall gently. Castiel stomps his foot and most of the floor is covered in a thin layer of ice, perfect for skating. Gabriel giggles as he makes his way over to Castiel, slipping and stumbling the whole way.

"This is awesome," he says happily. His hair is already covered in snowflakes and his cheeks and nose are already red from the cold. Castiel is, as usual, unaffected. "Let's build a snowman!"

They name it Olaf.

.

Years later, when Castiel thinks back on this moment, it will be nothing but a fast-paced, terror-filled blur to him, despite how slow everything seems to be moving while it's actually happening.

It starts when the ballroom doors explode open in a shower of ice chips as the king and queen force their way inside. Castiel flinches at the unexpected noise and whirls around, and because of this he doesn't see where his latest blast of ice goes.

His parents gasp just as he hears a sharp cry from behind him. He looks from his parents' horrified faces to his brother's confused one, then to the lingering traces of magic still floating around his head.

"Cas?" Gabriel says, right before a lock of his hair turns white, his eyes roll back into his head, and he collapses onto a pile of snow.

"Gabriel!" Three voices cry out at once, all of them filled with shock. Castiel reaches him first and reaches out, but stops just before his fingers make contact. "Gabriel?" The ice on the ground them solidifies until it's so thick that the floor isn't even visible as Castiel's breathing quickens.

"Castiel, this is getting out of hand," his father says when he reaches them. The queen falls to her knees next to Gabriel and gently lifts him up. Both of them look pale and have wide eyes that are filled with fear.

"He's cold as ice," the queen says, and Castiel flinches. Tears gather in his eyes.

"Will he be okay?" he asks in a small voice.

"Yes, darling, once we get him to the trolls."

"Do you remember the way?" the king asks.

The queen nods and gets to her feet, cradling Gabriel to her chest. "Bring Castiel. We must hurry."

They don't wake the stable hands to help them saddle their horses lest they ask questions, so it takes a bit longer than it normally does for them to get on the road. While the king prepares two horses, the queen holds Gabriel tightly and keeps up a steady stream of reassurances to Castiel.

"It was an accident," she says. "We can fix this. Gabriel will be okay."

He isn't sure who she's trying to convince.

An eternity later, they're riding furiously out of the kingdom and through the woods. Castiel sits in front of his mother and tries to control his powers. He can feel the magic inside of him, rippling and writhing in response to his fear. It wants to be let out, but for the first time in his life, Castiel is afraid to release it. He instead lets frost coat his fingers, and then his hands, and then his arms, and by the time they stop in a clearing full of boulders, almost his whole upper body is covered with thin ice. It breaks off into powdery snow when his mother lifts him off the horse.

The king hurries into the middle of the clearing with Gabriel in his arms, and Castiel and the queen stay close to him.

"Please, help us!" the king says desperately. For a moment, nothing happens, but then Castiel gasps when the boulders begin to roll towards them, and he steps closer to his parents. The rocks unravel to reveal small, round people who look at the royals with confusion in their features. Quiet, confused murmurs begin to ring out into the clearing as the trolls recognise them. They part for another boulder that comes rolling towards them, and Castiel assumes that this troll is the leader.

The king looks relieved to see him and kneels down so that the troll can place his hand on Gabriel's head. His eyes widen momentarily, and he looks at Castiel, then at the king. "I assume that your younger son is the one who caused this." The king nods. "And... is he the only one in your family with magic of some sort?"

"Yes," the king says, exchanging a frown with the queen. "Why, does Gabriel have powers, as well?"

The troll doesn't say anything for a while. "All I can sense in him is the ice magic in his head. But that is not important right now. Was he born with the powers or cursed?"

"Born," the king says. "And they're growing stronger." The troll nods, like he's just had something confirmed. Castiel doesn't mention that he never answered the king's question regarding Gabriel and whether or not he has magic, too.

"You are lucky it was his head and not something more difficult, like the heart. The heart is not so easily changed. I will remove all traces of magic," the troll says, flicking his wrist at the blue cloud; it turns a light red colour. "Including memories of it. I think that would be for the best." He waves his hand and the magic disperses. "He will be okay."

"But he won't remember I have powers?" Castiel asks tentatively. The troll gives him a long, searching look.

"Listen to me, Castiel," he says finally. He waves his hand and an image appears of a man holding two giant snowflakes in his hands, surrounded by smiling faces. The image is blue, but in the background there is a single person in red. Castiel wants to ask about it, but he's distracted when the troll begins to speak. "There is great beauty in what you can do, but also great danger. If you can't learn to control it, it will bring you only fear and pain."

The image changes suddenly; everything turns blood red as the man is overwhelmed by a tidal wave of angry faces, and his shout of fear is drowned out by their cries of anger. Castiel gasps and his mother's grip on his shoulder tightens.

"Is there nothing else you can do?" she asks.

"I am sorry, but the magic is ingrained in him too deeply for me to be able to remove it safely. All should be well as long as he learns to control it."

The king nods determinedly. "Thank you for everything."

"Good luck, Your Majesty," the troll replies. "Though I hope you should not need it."

And to Castiel, that sounds as foreboding as any death sentence.

.

Gabriel is more observant than he lets on. He notices a lot of things that others normally wouldn't, especially when it comes to the people he loves. So it comes as a great shock to him when Castiel suddenly moves out of their room without any warning and refuses to spend any more time around Gabriel than necessary.

Gabriel hadn't noticed anything wrong with his brother that would cause him to suddenly become to closed off. He's confused at first, but his parents tell him that Castiel only needs space to work some things out, which only confuses him more. Castiel is five. What could he possibly need to work out?

At first Gabriel tries to get through to him, and then, hurt when he is rebuffed, ignores him. They only see each other at dinner, which the king and queen insist on eating together every night, and even then they don't talk much. And then when that yields no results, Gabriel is right back to trying to entice his brother out of his room.

"It's snowing, Cas! Do you want to go build a snowman?"

"No. Go away, Gabriel."

He tries not to let anyone see how much the words sting.

As the years go by, Gabriel gets more and more desperate. The castle gates, which were once opened up to the people, are closed off. Gabriel isn't forbidden from going outside, but he doesn't see the point when there's no one to enjoy it with. Castiel comes out of his room sometimes, but only ever when he's with their parents, and Gabriel never has the courage to ask to speak to him in private in front of them.

He's lonely, though the king and queen try to spend as much time with him as possible. He misses his little brother, but nothing he does can get Castiel to open up to him.

And then their parents go off on a voyage. They don't return. The whole kingdom is devastated, though no one more so than Gabriel and Castiel. Gabriel dresses himself in black for almost a week after everyone else starts wearing colour again, and most days he can be found sitting outside of Castiel's door with his head buried in his arms and his knees drawn up to his chest.

"You're all I have left, Castiel, and I don't even get to see you anymore. What did I ever do to you to make you hate me enough to shut me out like this?"

He doesn't get an answer. He doesn't know what he was expecting.

He's eighteen when his parents die. Castiel is only fifteen, and Gabriel is incredibly worried about him, and that worry only increases when Castiel refuses to come out of his room at all. Gabriel has servants bring him breakfast and lunch and dinner, and send a tailor in every six months so that Castiel always has new clothes, and makes sure that his brother has all the latest books and things to do, but he doesn't get to actually see him until three years later, on the day of the coronation.

.

For the first time in what feels like forever, Gabriel leaves the palace. He manages to sneak out before any of the servants notice, though the guards posted outside the gates certainly spot him. They promise not to tell anyone, though, as long as he returns before the coronation.

The town just outside the gates is bright and colourful and exactly how Gabriel remembers it. There are people everywhere, all of them smiling and excited. Banners are hung up on every flagpole and window sill, all of them bearing the royal coat of arms: a pair of wings, one black and one gold, spreading from the hilt of a sword, all of it against a light blue background.

Gabriel's sure he's going to get whiplash from turning his head to look at everything, but he just can't help it. It's been thirteen years since he's even been out of the palace, and he's determined to enjoy it. He's so busy watching a group of kids fly kites that he doesn't see the horse coming straight for him until it nearly runs into him.

"Watch out!"

Gabriel turns and gasps, his eyes widening. They close only a second later as he prepares for impact, but the rider manages to stop the animal just before it makes contact. Gabriel feels a puff of air on his face and opens his eyes to find the horse just centimeters from him. He lets out a relieved sigh and reaches up to stroke the horse's nose as he focuses on calming down his racing heart.

"Are you alright?" the rider asks as he dismounts. His voice sounds panicked, and he hurries over to Gabriel with wide eyes. Gabriel smiles.

"I'm fine," he says. "No harm done."

The man relaxes and smiles back. "Good," he says. "I'm glad."

Gabriel quickly gives the man a once-over. He's dressed in finely tailored clothes that speak of wealth and a higher class, and everything about him is incredibly put together. He has short, dirty blond hair, icy blue eyes, and a small, shy smile. The man suddenly blinks and looks startled, and Gabriel fights back a smile.

"Oh, uh, pardon my terrible manners. I am Prince Lucifer of the Southern Isles," he introduces himself, bowing.

"Prince Gabriel of Arendelle," Gabriel replies, copying Lucifer's movements. The blond's eyes widen even more.

"I almost ran over the future king of my country's biggest trade partner," he says, his voice horrified. Gabriel laughs.

"Really, it's no big deal," he says. "I've done worse to myself before." He gives Lucifer his best 'everything-is-okay-don't-freak-out' smile, and is rewarded with a hesitant grin. The clock strikes nine forty-five just as he opens his mouth to say something, and his eyes widen as he looks towards the palace. People are already streaming in through the gates.

"Have to go?" Lucifer guesses.

"Unfortunately," Gabriel replies, already edging away. "I'll see you later?" Lucifer nods, and Gabriel shoots him one last smile, then turns and practically sprints to the palace. The guards at the gate give him disapproving looks as he runs past them, and he sticks his tongue out childishly once they can no longer see him.

He follows the crowd until they reach a fork in the hallway. While the people head left, towards the chapel where the ceremony is going to take place, Gabriel turns right, goes up a large staircase, and then rushes to his room. The outfit he'd chosen for the ceremony is still lying folded on his chest of drawers, and he changes into it as quickly as he can.

He pauses only for a second to check his reflection in his full-body mirror. His pants are white, and his knee-high boots are black. He has on a golden button down shirt underneath a white waistcoat, and on top of those he wears a gold jacket embroidered with black designs on the lapels. He's chosen to forego gloves because he'll have to take them off for the ceremony, and so he put on a ring, a simple silver band inlaid with tiny rubies, on his right hand.

Satisfied with his appearance, he hurries from his room. And then hurries back, grabs the long black cape that he forgot, and fastens it around his neck as he races to the chapel. He makes it there just in time.

"All rise for the crown prince," the bishop calls from inside, and the choir starts singing as everyone stands up at once. Gabriel takes a deep breath, rolls his shoulders, and then walks into the chapel.

Gabriel's heart speeds up from excitement when he sees his brother, who's standing off to the side slightly. Castiel's grown up a lot since the last time they'd seen each other. His face has lost its roundness, though his eyes are still solemn. His black hair, which had always been rather short in their childhood, is grown long and slicked back from his face. He's taller than Gabriel now, which doesn't surprise him. What does surprise him, however, is the small smile that Castiel sends his way when they lock eyes. Gabriel sends a tentative one back, but he is forced to turn his attention back to the ceremony when the bishop lifts up the crown.

It's the same crown that his father wore, years and years ago, and Gabriel feels a pang of sadness when he sees it. But he still bows his head so the bishop can put it on, and then he lifts up the scepter and the orb and turns to face the crowd. They all stand when the bishop begins chanting in the ancient language, and Gabriel catches sight of Lucifer in the crowd. The prince offers him a small wave, which Gabriel returns with a tiny smile.

"King Gabriel of Arendelle!" the bishop declares after a minute or two of chanting, and the crowd repeats the title. Gabriel places the orb and scepter back on the cushion, then faces the crowd once more when they clap and cheer. He's glad to be receiving this kind of reaction from the people, especially since the last time he'd had contact with any of them he'd been only eight years old and just starting his royal training.

But those who'd been allowed in the chapel - foreign dignitaries and ambassadors representing countries that Arendelle trades with - seem nothing but supportive and, dare he say it, even happy that Gabriel's finally accepting the position he'd been born to have. And he's nervous, of course, but not terribly so. He was born, bred, and trained for this, after all, and such a positive reaction helps to assuage his doubts. His slight nerves don't show in his wide smile, nor do they make his hands shake as he holds them at his sides.

He chances a glance at Castiel to see how he'll react (and he hates that they've grown so far apart that he has no idea what to expect from his brother because they used to be so close that sometimes Gabriel would think that they knew each other better than they knew themselves) and lets out a tiny sigh of relief when he sees that his brother is smiling. Not a large smile, but it looks genuine, and that's enough for Gabriel. Castiel has always been a terrible liar and has never seen the point in saying anything other than what he means, and Gabriel has a feeling that thirteen years of isolation has done nothing to diminish those qualities, so he trusts that all of Castiel's reactions will be genuine.

"I'd like to formally invite you all to the great hall for the celebratory part of this evening's events," he says once the applause has died down a bit. The words are rehearsed and memorised and formal, but he thinks he says them in such a way that it's not that obvious. What he says afterwards, though, is completely impulsive. "It's time to party!"

Luckily and to his great joy, many of the younger people cheer. Even a few of the older and grey-haired folks do. Off to the side, Kai rolls his eyes in what he probably thinks is a discreet manner but dutifully begins leading people to the royal hall. Gabriel, Castiel, and the bishop stay behind, the former two because they're going to be announced later, and the latter because he's old and no fun and doesn't want to partake in the party.

Once Kai has successfully directed the guests on where to go, and told them to ask the guards for help if they got lost, he rushes to Gabriel's side before the new king can even move.

"Excellent ceremony, Your Majesties," he says, his eyes flitting to Castiel but mostly staying on Gabriel. It's understandable, considering the fact that Kai practically helped raise Gabriel, and no one really knows Castiel now because of all those years he spent locked away. "Now, we're going to introduce you one at a time in about half an hour. King Gabriel, if you'll come with me, I was thinking that we can use this time to complete all the paperwork."

"Paperwork?" Gabriel repeats, frowning. "I wasn't aware that there was paperwork involved in this. Can I skip it?"

"I'm afraid not, Your Highness," Kai says dryly.

Gabriel glances at Castiel regretfully from the corner of his eye, then sighs and nods. "Alright, then. Let's go. I'm assuming it will take the entire thirty minutes?"

"We'll see," Kai says before turning his attention to Castiel. "Prince Castiel, you are free to do with this time as you wish, but I must ask that you be outside the back entrance to the royal hall at least a minute or two before you are to be announced at eleven."

"I will be there," Castiel promises. Gabriel tries not to gawk. Castiel had such a high-pitched voice when he was little, but now his voice is gravelly and deep. The king bites his lip as it sinks in just how much of a stranger his brother is to him now. But he composes himself before Kai and Castiel notice his discomfort.

"Come, Your Highness," Kai says to Gabriel. He inclines his head to Castiel, then turns and begins to walk out of the chapel. Gabriel looks to Castiel, but the prince has already turned and is leaving through the other exit, so Gabriel has no choice but to follow Kai.

.

It turns out that the paperwork Kai mentioned is simply taking an oath and then signing a document, both of which is basically him declaring his loyalty to the kingdom, and promising to put the needs of the people before anything else. All the past kings and queens did it, and should Gabriel ever marry, his wife will need to take the oath, as well. Gabriel rolls his eyes when Kai mentions this.

"It's a little early for me to be worrying about marriage, isn't it?" he says. "I haven't even been king for an hour yet."

"I'm simply letting you know what you'll need to be prepared for," Kai says unapologetically. It's one of the things Gabriel likes most about the man, the way he always speaks the truth and never sugarcoats anything. The blunt honesty can be refreshing amidst a sea of servants and trade partners and subjects telling him what they believe he wants to hear.

"And I appreciate that," Gabriel says, looking at the clock. "But don't we have somewhere to be?"

Kai checks the time on his pocketwatch and mutters something under his breath that has Gabriel grinning.

"What was that?" the king asks.

"You're right," Kai says. They both know that's not what he said. "We have only a few minutes to get to the great hall."

"We'd best be on our way, then," Gabriel says. He nods to the six other people in the room, his official advisors who'd overseen the taking of the oath. They bow to him in return, and then he and Kai rush out.

They make it to the hall at eleven on the dot to find Castiel already outside the door. Like Gabriel, he's wearing the same thing he wore to the coronation ceremony, an ice blue jacket with a white shirt on underneath, white pants, black shoes, and white gloves, along with his simple silver coronet. He raises an eyebrow when Gabriel and Kai approach.

"Paperwork a little more than you thought it would be?" he says dryly.

"Yes," Kai replies, obviously not in the mood to engage in banter. He peers through the open door, then looks at Gabriel and Castiel. "Alright, I'm going to announce King Gabriel first. All you have to do is walk out, stand there, and greet all the guests as they're brought up to you. After that you'll be free to mingle."

"Got it," Gabriel says as Castiel nods. Kai adjusts his jacket, then walks into the room. Almost immediately the music and chatter die down as the guests notice the herald.

"Lords and ladies," Kai says loudly, "may I present to you King Gabriel of Arendelle!"

There is applause, though this is less subdued than it had been in the chapel. Gabriel feels himself grin and doesn't try to fight it as he walks into the room to stand in front of Kai and to his right. The guests all bow low as he does, and they stay low when Castiel is introduced.

"Prince Castiel of Arendelle!"

Castiel walks in a little slower than Gabriel did, his eyes half-closed and a small, polite smile on his face. He stands straight and tall, and looks nothing but regal as he takes his place at Gabriel's right. Gabriel is absolutely not jealous.

The guests finally straighten out and applaud once again. Gabriel wonders how their hands aren't rubbed raw already.

"Hi," Castiel says softly once everyone begins to go back to the party, drawing him out of his musings. Gabriel starts a little and looks up at his brother in surprise. He hadn't expected Castiel to be the one to initiate conversation. Quite the opposite, in fact, Gabriel had been preparing himself to chase after his brother all night in order to talk to him.

"Oh, uh. Hi," Gabriel says. He is completely thrown for a loop and it's taking him a while to catch up to the situation. For now, he's simply reacting to everything that's going on. Castiel only smiles at his awkwardness and looks back at the crowd. The people have gone back to dancing and talking and laughing, and Gabriel can spot Kai trying to track down the first of the guests he'll be introducing to the royals.

"So," Castiel says. "This is what a party looks like." There's a small smile on his face and his eyes are bright as he looks at everyone, and Gabriel can clearly see a bit of longing on his face. It's obvious he's enjoying the company, which makes Gabriel wonder why he'd locked himself up in the first place.

"It's noisier than I thought it would be," he says, then blinks at himself. He hadn't meant to say that.

"And warmer," Castiel says, which makes Gabriel tilt his head a little in confusion. He's actually a little chilly, and he has three layers and a cape to keep him warm. Maybe Castiel is coming down with something.

"I didn't expect so many people to show up," Gabriel confesses. "Probably only half of these people are from Arendelle. A lot of them came all the way from their countries just to see my coronation."

"Why wouldn't they?" Castiel says. "They no doubt wanted to see history in the making. I have no doubt that you're going to be a great king."

Gabriel blinks, touched and surprised by the compliment. "Thank you," he says softly, his eyebrows furrowed slightly. Luckily, Castiel doesn't notice the look as his attention is diverted as Kai walks up to them just then, leading a tall, thin man behind him.

"Your Majesties. May I introduce to you the Duke Alistair Malum of Weaseltown."

"It's Weselton!" the Duke snaps, his face twisting in irritation. Kai raises an unamused eyebrow, unfazed as always. Gabriel frowns the slightest bit at the harshness in the Duke's tone; he doesn't like how this man is treating Kai, but is willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for the moment.

The Duke bows and Gabriel and Castiel incline their heads in return.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness," Alistair says. His lips curl up in a lazy smile that sets Gabriel on edge for some reason. He doesn't know why, but his instincts are rarely wrong.

"The pleasure is all mine," he says, regardless of his thoughts, because his parents would likely be rolling around in their watery tombs if he let anything get in the way of politeness.

"As Weselton is your closest partner in trade, I thought it only fitting that I be the first one to congratulate you."

"Thank you very much," Gabriel says, smiling politely. "I appreciate the sentiment, Duke."

"Please, call me Alistair." Kai frowns and Gabriel can sense Castiel tense beside him, but he doesn't look at either of them.

"If you wish," he says in response to the Duke's request. He doesn't offer the same courtesy back, and soon Alistair leaves.

"That was strange," Castiel says quietly once he's gone.

"Very," Gabriel agrees. "But I'm going to pretend it's a Weselton thing and not a political move. I'm having too much fun to ruin the party with politics."

"The whole purpose of this party is to celebrate you becoming king," Castiel points out.

"Oh, shush, you," Gabriel says lightly. "The political stuff shouldn't be worried about until later. For now, I want to simply enjoy this."

"I understand," Castiel says. "This is very nice."

"The party's great," Gabriel agrees. "But I was talking about seeing you." Castiel's eyes widen a fraction, and he looks very vulnerable at this admission. Gabriel's aware that he probably looks about the same. "Just having you here is enough to make this a night I know I'll never forget. I wish it could be like this all the time." _I wish you'd stop hiding away and be my brother again._

"Me, too," Castiel says, smiling softly. But then he blinks and his eyes harden. "But it can't."

Gabriel frowns. "Why not? I don't understand why you can't just-"

"It just can't!" Castiel cuts him off, turning away from him abruptly. His shoulders are tense, and Gabriel feels his jaw clench. There's a sour feeling in his gut, and he pretends that it's anger as he excuses himself and walks into the crowd. He knows he was supposed to stay until he'd been introduced to everyone, but at this point he just doesn't care.

His hands clench into fists and he frowns down at the floor as he absentmindedly weaves his way through the crowd. He just doesn't understand why Castiel has to be so… dense. He's not even going to try to guess at the reasons behind Castiel's reclusiveness, but surely at age eighteen Castiel can see that there's no reason for him to hide away like that, and that he's not doing anything but hurting everyone when he does, right?

Gabriel scoffs lightly, then yelps as something slams into him from the side and sends him stumbling back. He steps on his cape, trips, and promptly falls over. A hand shoots out and grabs his before he can make impact, though, and he finds himself looking into amused blue eyes.

"Prince Lucifer," he says, a relieved smile making its way onto his face.

"I'd be honoured if you'd call me simply Lucifer, Your Highness," the blond says, pulling Gabriel to his feet. Unlike when the Duke had made the same offer, Gabriel readily accepts.

"Only if you call me Gabriel," he says.

"Very well, then, Gabriel," Lucifer says. The band strikes up a lively tune and everyone around them gasps in delight and moves to the dance floor. "Care to dance?"

Gabriel stares dubiously at the hand that's being extended to him, then mentally shrugs. It's not like he cares what anyone will think of him, and even if he did, this kind of thing isn't uncommon enough to be abnormal.

"I'd love to," he says honestly, taking Lucifer's hand and pulling him out to join all the other couples. The dance lasts for only a few moments, but as soon as it's finished Gabriel raises his eyebrows at the musicians and they happily begin a new song.

They dance for hours, until their feet ache and their stomachs are growling and the sun is high in the sky. As they finish the last dance, ending it by bowing to each other, Gabriel catches sight of Castiel through the crowd, watching them with a disapproving frown on his face. Gabriel frowns in irritation and grabs Lucifer's hand.

"Let's go get food," he says, masking his negative feelings well. "I'm starving."

Lucifer readily agrees, so they make their way over to the food-laden table in the back of the hall. Dinner is going to be served to the guests later, so the table is covered with small finger-foods. Gabriel wants nothing more than to fill a plate with food, find an unoccupied room, and skip dinner, but he knows he can't do that without offending all of his guests. Instead, he grabs enough to tie him over until they're all called for dinner.

"I don't know if this is going to offend you or not," Lucifer mumbles to him as they're nibbling on rolls, "but do you want to get out of here?"

Gabriel smiles. "You just read my mind."

.

They make it back to the party just in time for Gabriel to formally invite all of his guests for dinner, and then he leads the way to their largest and most opulent dining room. According to the placecards, his seat is at the head of the long rectangular table; Castiel sits immediately to his right and the Duke of Weselton sits on his left, much to Gabriel's displeasure.

Luckily, Castiel engages him in conversation quickly enough, which gives Gabriel a reason to ignore the Duke. Unluckily, it's simply to berate him.

"Where have you been?" the prince whispers to him, a crease between his eyebrows displaying his displeasure at Gabriel ditching most of his own coronation party. "You disappeared. What were you doing?"

Gabriel thinks back to the past few hours, which he spent running around with Lucifer. After Gabriel told him about how lonely his childhood was (which luckily, Lucifer understood, seeing as both his older and younger brother both were always busy), Lucifer was very interested in how Gabriel entertained himself, so Gabriel showed him all the best rooms to slide around in their socks in, all the best towers to climb to get the best views, and when even that got old, they spent hours simply talking to each other about nothing and everything.

"Nothing," Gabriel replies. A servant comes by and pours everyone a glass of wine, and Castiel waits until she's gone to continue.

"You can't just do these kinds of things anymore, Gabriel," Castiel says. "You're a king now, and you have appearances to maintain. What would people think if they found out you ditched your own coronation party?"

But Gabriel was still stuck on the first thing Castiel had said. "I'm sorry, did you say anymore?" he asked, his eyes narrowed down to slits. "How would you know what I did before? It's not like you've exactly been there."

Castiel winces and for a moment, Gabriel regrets what he said.

"I have reasons for doing what I did," Castiel says.

"Please, enlighten me."

Castiel makes an angry face and for a moment looks like he's going to do just that, but then he hesitates. "I can't."

Gabriel scoffs and turns away without another word. The Duke is right there, his face resting in his palms and a wide smile on his face even as his eyes are only half-open.

"Trouble in paradise?" he asks. Gabriel forces a polite smile onto his face and reaches for his wine glass.

"Simply a disagreement," he corrects lightly, well aware that Castiel can hear everything he says when he's not whispering. "Very common amongst siblings, as everyone knows."

"Oh, I wouldn't. I'm an only child, you see."

"Really." Gabriel's tone quite clearly says that he's not interested, but either the Duke is really bad at reading social cues or he just doesn't care, because he continues.

"Oh, yes. It was quite quiet growing up. Peaceful. I've always felt terribly sorry for people who've had the misfortune to have parents who couldn't quite control all of their physical urges."

Gabriel chokes on his wine and begins coughing, and a servant hurries over to him in concern. He waves her off distractedly and glares at the Duke, who has turned away and started another conversation. There's a smirk on his face and a gleam in his eyes that betrays how pleased with himself. Castiel looks up from where he'd been poking disinterestedly at his salad and frowns at Gabriel, which makes the older think that he hadn't been paying attention to his conversation after all.

"Are you alright?" Castiel asks. "Your face is flushed."

And Gabriel can feel the heat in his cheeks, though he's not quite sure if it's from anger, embarrassment, or almost choking.

"I'm fine," he snaps, and Castiel makes a face and turns away. Gabriel stabs a slice of tomato and chews it mechanically, not even tasting it. This night is not turning out how he'd hoped, and his good mood from earlier is all but gone.

Further down the table, Lucifer catches his eye. The blond looks at his two neighbors, both of whom are speaking over him in some foreign language as if he's not there, then mimes stabbing himself. Gabriel smiles genuinely for the first time since dinner started. His next bite has much more flavor to it.


	2. Chapter 2

Dinner is a pleasant enough affair once Gabriel puts up his polite mask, the kind that he usually reserves for dealing with snobby advisors. He ignores the Duke as much as he can, and makes polite conversation with Castiel every so often so as not to gain the suspicion of his guests. Aside from the servants, no one knows that Castiel and Gabriel haven't seen each other in years, and Gabriel is going to keep it that way to prevent any rumours from growing.

Dinner is over roughly two hours after it started, and then everyone retreats back to the great hall for more dancing and socialising. As the more important guests were seated closer to him at dinner and he made sure to make conversation with all of them, he considers his obligations to socialise with people fulfilled, and so feels no guilt in basically hiding out near the back of the hall, already emotionally drained as he is.

It's not long after the band starts their first song that Lucifer finds him.

"Why are you hiding out here by yourself?" the prince asks, leaning against the wall next to him.

Gabriel shrugs. "Don't really feel like socialising with them anymore. I never knew how exhausting it is, dealing with large amounts of people."

"Right, this is your first big social gathering," Lucifer says. "Well, I don't know if this'll make things better or worse, but…"

Gabriel eyes him curiously, intrigued when he sees that the prince looks hesitant.

"What?" he prompts.

"Can I say something crazy?" Lucifer says.

"Of course," Gabriel says. "You do know who you're talking to, right?"

Lucifer gives him a weak smile, which isn't exactly what Gabriel was going for, but he'll still take it.

"Right." Lucifer takes a deep breath, then lets it out slowly. "Gabriel, I know we haven't known each very long - only a few hours, in fact - but I like you. I like you a lot. And this is definitely very sudden, and isn't proper at all and if my mother ever found out about this, she'd have my head-"

"Lucifer," Gabriel interrupts, hoping beyond hope that Lucifer isn't about to propose.

"Right, sorry. What I'm trying to say is… will you allow me to court you?"

Gabriel lets out a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank god."

Lucifer blinks, and Gabriel realizes that he said that out loud.

"I thought you were going to propose," he admits with a nervous chuckle.

"Oh, please. I'm crazy, but I'm not that crazy," Lucifer says.

Gabriel chuckles. "Of course you can court me, if you let me court you in return," he says. Lucifer's whole face lights up with the force of his smile and Gabriel is momentarily mesmerised. But then the prince's gaze slides to something over Gabriel's shoulder, and his smile drops.

Gabriel frowns and turns, then freezes when he sees Castiel standing just a few feet away from them, his upper lip curled up in a faint sneer. Gabriel quickly throws off his surprise and schools his face.

"Can I help you with something?" he asks. Castiel's gaze flicks from Gabriel to Lucifer and back again, and he presses his lips into a flat line of disapproval.

"Can I speak with you?"

"You are," Gabriel replies. Castiel narrows his eyes in anger. "Whatever you have to say, you can say it now."

"Fine," Castiel replies coolly. "Gabriel, what do you think you're doing?"

Gabriel looks back at Lucifer, who appears as if he wants to be literally anywhere else, then back at Castiel, his eyebrows raised in fake surprise.

"I thought I was talking to you, but now I'm not so sure. What am I doing, Cas? Pole dancing?"

"What you're doing is making a mistake. I cannot believe you're considering marriage already, and you haven't even been king for a day."

Gabriel feels anger flare up hot beneath his skin, and he clenches his hands into fists.

"Who the hell said anything about marriage?" he snaps. "You've been listening in, so you should know that we're just going to court for now."

"What do you think courtship ends in?" Castiel says heatedly. "Gabriel, you can't just do these things. All of your actions reflect on other people, as well as yourself. Besides, you have a kingdom to run, you can't be making selfish decisions! How are you supposed to produce an heir if you don't take a wife?"

Gabriel's mouth drops. "Unbelievable," he mutters in shock. Then his eyes narrow as he puffs up with anger and indignation. "I'm a grown man, Castiel, I can make decisions for myself, thanks. And in case you've forgotten, I outrank you, which means I don't have to run every decision I make by you, so you can take your opinion and shove it until I specifically ask for it."

Castiel actually has the gall to throw his hands up in the air in frustration like Gabriel's the one being unreasonable. "It's just like you to make such selfish decisions," he says, obviously not intending for anyone to hear, but Gabriel has pretty good hearing.

" _What did you say?"_ Somewhere in the back of his mind, he realizes that everyone in the great hall has stopped to watch, but he doesn't care, too lost in his anger to worry about the repercussions of fighting with his brother in public. "How the hell would you know if this is 'just like me' or not? The last time I checked, you haven't even come out of your room in three years, and even before that you'd only come out once a day! Don't be so presumptuous as to make statements about me when you don't even know me anymore!"

"I never wanted to do that, you know," Castiel snarls. "It wasn't my choice whether or not to lock myself away."

"Of course it was!" Gabriel exclaims angrily. "You chose to shut me out, but did you ever think that you'd be affecting anyone other than yourself? I can't live like that anymore, Cas!"

Castiel glares at him icily, his blue eyes glittering.

"Then leave," he says cruelly, and Gabriel jerks back like he's been slapped, his eyes wide and full of hurt. He can hear a few people gasp, but the sound is muffled. All he can focus on is Castiel, and the way his eyes very briefly shine with remorse before he turns and starts to walk away.

"Cas, wait!" Gabriel quickly darts forward and grabs Castiel's hand, but the prince jolts back and Gabriel is left with only a glove clenched tight in his fist.

"Give me back my glove!" Castiel demands, his eyes wide. Gabriel ignores him.

"What did I ever do to you?" he demands hotly. Castiel crosses his arms and hunches his shoulders, and the stunned crowd clears a path for him when he turns and begins walking to the door.

"Enough, Gabriel," he practically moans, but Gabriel is too worked up to notice.

"No, why do you shut me out?" Castiel reaches the door, and there's no one left standing between him and Gabriel as the latter follows. "Why do you shut the world out? What are you so afraid of?"

"I said enough!" Castiel shouts angrily, whirling around and throwing his arm out. Bright blue sparks erupt from his hand and where they touch the floor, sharp spikes made of ice shoot up. The crowd gasps and screams as Gabriel jumps back to avoid being skewered alive. The king's eyes are wide as he looks into his brother's terrified ones.

"Cas," Gabriel whispers in horror, watching his brother grow more and more distressed. He can hear the people around him muttering and talking, but he ignores them.

Castiel sucks in a ragged breath and fumbles for the doorknob behind him, and once he pushes open the door he turns and flees. Lucifer comes running up to Gabriel, who turns to him with a determined look on his face.

"Come on," he says, the command more of a request. Lucifer tightens his lips and nods, but the Duke interferes before they can make any move towards the door.

"Your Majesty, I really wouldn't recommend going towards the sorcerer," he says, his eyes glinting in the light. "I've brought along a few of my best trained guards that I would be more than happy to lend you, to help apprehend the prince."

Gabriel narrows his eyes. "I don't plan on apprehending my brother seeing as he's done nothing wrong." He turns and hurries after Castiel without another word, Lucifer falling into step next to him. Castiel leaves a trail of thin ice behind him that's pretty easy to follow, so it doesn't take them long to catch up to him. They find him out in the courtyard in front of the palace, rushing through the crowds, which part for him easily. One of the fountains is frozen and warped into a twisted ice sculpture, and Gabriel moves faster.

Castiel leads them through a passage in the side of the courtyard that leads directly to the fjords, and by the time Gabriel and Lucifer catch him, he's staring down at the water fearfully.

"Castiel, wait!" Gabriel calls. Castiel's head jerks up towards them, then back down to the water, and before Gabriel can take a single step in his direction, he's running across the water, leaving a trail of ice behind him. Gabriel runs up to the edge of the water, but doesn't venture onto the ice; just because it held Castiel, who has ice magic, doesn't mean it'll hold anyone else. And indeed, where Gabriel gets too close to the ice, it starts to melt.

Lucifer comes to a stop next to him and grabs onto his forearm. Gabriel watches in shock as his brother makes it to the mountain on the other side of the fjord, becoming a blurry dot the further away he gets.

"No," Gabriel whispers. Lucifer's grip tightens suddenly.

"The fjord," he says, and Gabriel realizes that the icy trail Castiel left on the water is spreading, freezing the entire fjord solid. The wind picks up suddenly and cold air swirls around them, making them shiver. "What are we going to do?"

Gabriel looks up at the sky, where dark, puffy clouds are beginning to gather, then to the mountains across the fjord. His jaw tightens with determination.

"Now we fix this," he says.

.

Dean curses as yet another clump of snow finds its way into his jacket, despite the many layers he's wearing to prevent such a thing. He doesn't even know why he bothers. It's only been a few hours at most since he's been separated from his brother - his brother who has their sleigh and most of their supplies. All Dean has is enough food to last him a few days, the clothes on his back, and some coin in case he runs into any manner of store, unlikely though that is given that he's wandering around on a mountain range.

Right now, he's trying to make it back to Arendelle before his food runs out. He and Sam had agreed long ago that if they were ever separated, they'd find each other in the closest town, and if Sam is still alive, he'll most likely be heading towards the kingdom, too. Dean stubbornly does not think about Sam not surviving the wolf attack; he has the sleigh and all of their weapons, and is more than capable of fending off a few mangy dogs.

Dean's foot sinks into a deep patch of snow and he shivers when he feels cold wetness soaking into his socks. Quickly pulling his foot out, he looks around him, trying to find - something. All he can see is vast, empty whiteness, most of the snow unbroken except for the trail of footprints that he left behind him. He can't even see a tree.

But he does see another person.

Dean frowns and watches as the man walks along in the snow, seemingly unconcerned with the cold. He does have his arms wrapped around him, but that seems to be more for comfort seeing as he's wearing even less clothing than Dean is, yet isn't shivering. Dean can't make out many details, but he can see that the man has black hair and is dressed in mostly blues and whites. He seems unconcerned with where he's going, not looking up once.

Dean changes direction and starts to head towards the man, hoping to find a potential ally in another lost soul, but stops once he gets close enough to see what the man is doing. He's dressed in fine clothes that look like they have no place on the rough and dangerous North Mountain, but the most noticeable feature is the simple, diamond-studded silver coronet that's resting on his head.

It looks valuable enough to be able to let Dean, Sam, and their reindeer, Colonel, live comfortably for the rest of their lives, and so Dean feels completely justified in gawking when the man takes it off, gives it a look of disgust, and then flings it away like it's trash.

"Keep it hidden," the man says to himself, his voice carrying easily on the wind. "Conceal it, don't feel it. Don't let it show." He gives a bitter laugh. "No need anymore, not when everyone knows."

Dean frowns and wonders what this man had to hide that was so bad that it caused so much pain to enter his voice when he talked about it. His question is answered only a second later when the man pulls off the one glove he wears and lets it fly away in the wind, then flings both his hands out in front of him. Glowing blue sparks erupt from his hands and snow follows not after, causing the snow on the ground to explode into the air in a flurry of fluffy snowflakes. The man cuts his arm through the air and the snow stops drifting and falls suddenly. Dean's eyes widen in shock.

Now smiling, the man turns and waves his finger in a circle, conjuring up a small snowman. He laughs in delight and Dean feels his own lips quirk upwards in response. Now that he's over his initial shock, he has to admit that this is actually incredible, and amazing to watch.

And then, to his shock, the man reaches a cliff and creates a staircase of snow that reaches from the edge of the cliff to about halfway across to the other side. Dean follows a little ways behind as the man cautiously puts one foot onto the first stair; the snow solidifies and turns to ice, and the man grins and starts running up the stairs, hands spread wide on either side of him. When he reaches the end of the staircase, whatever magic is inside him creates another step, and then another, until the staircase is being built at the same speed as the man is running at.

When he reaches the other side of the cliff, the man lets out a loud laugh and falls backwards into the snow, wiggling until he's almost completely buried in it. He seems to get an idea as he sits up suddenly. He looks down at his snow covered clothes, then smiles slyly. Dean, who's crouching on the staircase, feels his cheeks heat up a little. What can he say, he's a sucker for a pretty pair of eyes and a nice smile, and this man has both and then some.

The man begins to strip, and Dean's face turns beet red. He watches until the man gets down to his underclothes, and then he closes his eyes, his face burning. A few moments later, he cautiously cracks open an eye, then gasps quietly. The man is waving his hands in complex little patterns, controlling the ice that's rushing up his body to create clothing. By the time he's finished, he has on a pair of pants and a simple long-sleeved shirt that shows off just a little too much collarbone, both in a light, icy blue. Around his neck, attached by an ovular blue crystal, is a cape so long it drags on the ground behind him; it's translucent, and appears to be made out of tiny ice crystals that reflect the light whenever he moves. Pure white boots stop just below his knees. He musses up his hair until it's fluffy and sticking every which way, and then he fashions a crown out of ice for himself. He frowns at it, then tosses it away and creates a simple coronet instead.

He looks ethereal, with his pale skin and dark hair and blue eyes, dressed in ice and standing against a background of snow, and for a guy who sells ice for a living and has a rather unhealthy love for it, he's the most beautiful thing Dean's ever seen.

And then he starts building the castle, and Dean swears he's in love.

It takes only a few minutes, and by the time it's over, there's a hundred and fifty foot castle made of ice nestled against the side of a mountain, put there by one man. Dean waits until he's sure everything has settled, and then he gets up, straightens his jacket as much as he can, and knocks on the front door.

The door opens almost immediately, and Dean cautiously walks inside. The castle is just as grand and beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside, and Dean spins in a small circle, trying to take in as many details as possible.

"Incredible," he says to himself, reaching out and gently running his gloved hand over one of the walls.

"Do you really think so?" comes a voice from behind him, and Dean spins around. The man who'd built the castle is standing at the top of a gently curved staircase, looking down at Dean distrustfully.

"Um," Dean says intelligently, momentarily thrown by the man's deep, gravelly voice. "I do. This is amazing. I… I saw you build this," he says hesitantly, not sure how the man will react to being spied on. "How can you control ice like that?"

The man hunches his shoulders defensively. "I-I don't really know," he says. "I've always been able to do that. You really aren't scared of me?"

"Are you going to hurt me?" Dean asks.

"No," the man says, looking bewildered.

"Then, no, I'm not scared of you. I'm Dean, by the way. Who are you?"

The man eyes him for a moment, looking thoroughly confused. "Castiel," he says. "My name is Castiel."

"Like the prince?" Dean asks. Then his eyes widen as he comes to a realization. "Wait, are _you_ the prince?" Castiel nods. "Oh, man. Should I bow or something? I don't really know the protocol for addressing royalty."

"I don't think I'll be royalty any longer, not now that everyone knows what I can do."

Dean frowns in confusion. "Did something happen?"

Castiel smiles sadly. "It's kind of a long story. Would you like to come in? I know it's not really warm in here, but at least it's out of the wind."

"I'd love to, thanks," Dean says, starting up the stairs. Castiel waits until he reaches the top, then turns and begins leading him further into the castle. "So is this the reason that no one's seen any of the royals for all those years?"

"Unfortunately," Castiel says. "There was an… accident when I was a child, and my parents thought it would be best to limit my contact with people until I'd learned to control my powers, but that never really happened." He shrugs. "So I just never came out."

"You have a brother, right? And today was his coronation?"

"Yes, Gabriel became king today."

"Does he have powers, too?"

"No," Castiel replies. "At least, not that I know of, but it's unlikely. Besides, he hates the cold and has always preferred heat."

They reach a room that turns out to be a sitting room, complete with armchairs, a table, and a fireplace that seems to be there more for decoration than any practical use. The chairs are padded with snow that holds its shape when Dean sits down, and it's actually a lot more comfortable than he thought it would be.

"So, what made you run away from Arendelle?" Dean asks. Castiel takes a deep breath, lets it out slowly, then begins his story.

.

An hour after Castiel left, Gabriel is still sitting in one of his castle's meeting rooms, listening impatiently as his six advisors argue about what to do. He wants to go out and look for his brother, but he'd been forced to sit in at this rather pointless meeting because of his hours old kingship.

"I think the main question here," one of the advisors says loudly, interrupting an argument between two others, "is whether or not the prince should even be found. He is a danger to everyone in Arendelle, as shown by tonight's events."

Gabriel slams his hands down on the table loudly, a murderous expression on his face.

"This is my brother you're talking about," he says, his voice cold as ice. "And if all you're going to do is sit here and argue about whether or not he's dangerous, I'm going to go and do something productive. If you'll all excuse me."

And with that, he gets up and walks out, leaving the flabbergasted group to sit in their chairs and gape. Immediately outside the doors, he finds Lucifer and the Duke of Weselton, along with a few of the other more important foreign dignitaries that had come for the coronation. They all fall into step alongside him as he makes his way to the front doors of the castle.

"Your Majesty," the Duke says, not even pretending that he and the others weren't listening in to Gabriel's meeting. "I think that your advisors are correct. It would be unwise to bring the prince back to Arendelle as long as we are uninformed about his abilities and loyalties."

"And it would be unwise of you to continue to speak," Gabriel replies frostily. They reach the doors and enter the courtyard, where many people are still loitering, hoping to get some answers from the guards posted at the gates and front doors. Most of them are still wearing thin summer clothes, but they'll have to change soon if they don't wish to freeze. It's been snowing for almost half an hour now, and the temperature is dropping with every passing minute. Everyone breaks out into murmurs when Gabriel walks out, but he ignores them and climbs up onto the ledge of the fountain that Castiel had frozen earlier.

The mutterings quiet down when he raises his hand, and thankfully most people don't seem that wary of him. It would honestly suck if his subjects were afraid of him.

"Let it be known that I did not know of Prince Castiel's… abilities," he says. "And yes, tonight was just as shocking for me as it was for you. But rest assured, I will find Prince Castiel and we will put a stop to this winter. Until I return, I'm leaving Prince Lucifer in charge."

He hops down from the fountain and ignores the chatter that instantly breaks out, shivering as he makes his way to where Lucifer is standing. He hates the cold, he really does, but here he is volunteering to go off into the mountains during a freak winter to bring his brother back home.

"Gabriel, you can't go out there by yourself," Lucifer says as soon as Gabriel is close enough to hear him. "It's dangerous."

"Cas is not dangerous," Gabriel says, then pauses. "Okay, he might be a little dangerous, but he'd never hurt me. Besides, someone has to bring him back, and I don't trust anyone else to do it."

"I'll go find him," Lucifer offers. "I'm third in line for the throne of my kingdom, but you're the king here, Gabriel, and you don't have any heirs. What would happen to Arendelle if something happened to you?"

Gabriel pulls off his ring and presses it into Lucifer's hand. "You'd rule instead," he says with a small smile. "I think you'd make a good king. Hopefully it won't come to that, but I think that my kingdom would be in good hands if something did happen to me out there."

Lucifer doesn't reply, but blinks wide eyes at the ring in his hand. Gabriel takes the opportunity to slip away towards the stables. He tells the stable hands to prepare his horse, along with enough supplies to last him a few days, and while they're doing that, he quickly goes up to his room to change into something more appropriate for riding around in the woods.

He ditches his cape and his gold jacket, and pulls on a warmer black jacket with a collar that covers his neck, and fastens a thick white cloak around his shoulders. He also pulls on a pair of white leather gloves that are lined with fur, and switches out his black boots for an almost identical pair with waterproof leather and soft cotton insides. His sword he fastens around his waist, and he grabs a dagger from his dresser, which he slips inside his boot.

Once he's ready, he makes his way back to the stables. His horse, a beautiful black Shire stallion with a thick white blaze, a black mane and tail, and white feathering around his enormous hooves, is already ready, his head low and his hoof pawing at the ground impatiently. The stable hands have put on his light brown leather saddle, the one with a pommel instead of a horn, as well as his darker leather saddlebags, which Gabriel can see are full of the supplies he requested.

The horsemaster's apprentice is holding the horse by the reins, the special ones that Gabriel had specially made for his horse, Admiral. The cheek piece of the reins are attached to the noseband and there isn't a bit, which Gabriel thinks Admiral appreciates. When he catches sight of Gabriel, Admiral jerks his head so hard that the boy loses his grip on the reins. Admiral trots happily up to Gabriel and sticks his nose into the king's chest, nickering quietly. Gabriel laughs and reaches up to stroke the horse's nose.

"Ready to go, Admiral?" he says. "We have a very important task to do."

Admiral tosses his head, which Gabriel takes to mean yes. He puts his foot in the stirrup and pulls himself up into the saddle, taking a moment to fight back the vertigo from suddenly being so high up. After nodding to the stable boy, he grabs the reins and leads Admiral out of the stables, along the path that leads to the main road.

From there, he rides hard along the outside of the fjord. Like this, it'll take him at least a few hours to circle around and make it to the mountains opposite Arendelle, but he doesn't want to risk riding across the ice that covers the fjord.

"Come on, Admiral," he urges his horse. "Let's see how fast you can run."

And with that, horse and rider streak off towards the mountains.


	3. Chapter 3

By the time Gabriel gets to the foot of the mountains that Castiel had disappeared into, the sky is lightening as the sun prepares to make an appearance. He's exhausted, but he can't stop. He won't. Castiel has a huge head start, and there's no telling how far into the mountains he's gotten by now, so Gabriel will need all the time he can get in order to find his brother.

Admiral, too, is tired, but he's a workhorse through and through, and will continue going until Gabriel calls a halt or he keels over. Gabriel won't let it get that far, of course, but he knows that Admiral is running on more sleep than Gabriel himself is, and can probably go for another few hours before he requires rest and food.

"Come on, Admiral," Gabriel urges his horse. "We can do this."

Admiral snorts and tosses his huge head, and seems to put a little more effort into wading through the thick snow. The ground is sloping gently upwards, not enough to be a complete hinderance, but enough to be noticeable. Pretty soon they'll be properly on the mountains, and conditions will only get harsher. Gabriel is really not looking forward to it. He lets go of the reins for a moment and blows onto his gloved hands, hoping to warm them up. It works much better than he'd been expecting, and he's left pleasantly surprised when he can feel the warmth of his breath through the gloves.

They're an hour or two into the mountains when Admiral stills mid-step, one of his hooves poised in the air. Gabriel, who had been calling for Castiel, goes silent and looks warily around him, looking for whatever startles his horse. He wants to get down and look around, but he knows that the snow would practically make it impossible for him to move, and he'll have a greater advantage if he's on his horse.

"Is someone there?" he calls, despite the fact that he's almost positive that he's the only one on this mountain.

"That depends on who's asking," a voice replies, and Gabriel blinks in surprise.

"There's actually someone there?" he mutters to himself. Then, louder, he says, "My name is Gabriel. To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?"

"Sam," the voice replies. "I'm Sam. What are you doing on the mountain?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Gabriel replies, bristling at the man's almost accusing tone. "I'm here on personal business. What's your reason?"

"Uh, I sell ice for a living," the man says, the _duh_ clear in his voice.

"Ooh, that is a rough business to be in right now," Gabriel says, snorting and thinking of how the people in Arendelle have probably already had enough of ice. Sam, it seems, has not heard the news, because he steps out of the trees and gives Gabriel a suspicious look.

"And why is that?" he demands. Gabriel frowns, not used to being addressed in such a tone and not knowing how to respond to it.

"Because my brother froze Arendelle," he replies. "That's why I'm up here, to find him so he can bring back summer."

Sam gapes at him. "I think you'd better start from the beginning."

.

Dean is very surprised to find himself growing comfortable around Castiel. Although, maybe it's not surprising. He's always liked people well enough, his nearly reclusive career choice aside, and it's not like Castiel's magic is shocking to him. He's seen magic before, after all, when he'd first met the trolls. They'd healed a boy of some kind of attack, but he doesn't know exactly what. He and Sam were too far away to make out many details.

Castiel, too, seems to be as fond of Dean as Dean is of him. Though they've only known each other for a day, but they're already so comfortable around each other. Castiel is comfortable enough to openly use his magic around Dean, which the latter knows is a big deal, given what Castiel had told him about his upbringing. In turn, Dean tells Castiel about all the hardships he and his brother have faced in their lives, from losing their parents to being forced to work from a very young age to never truly having a home.

When Dean mentions this, Castiel offhandedly mentions that Dean is more than welcome to stay with him, but Dean reluctantly declines. He has a little brother he needs to find, he says. Castiel is, of course, sad, but also very understanding. And then Dean accidentally walks in on Castiel bathing (in ice cold water, no less), and decides that Sam will probably be fine for another day or two.

.

Gabriel tells Sam his tale as the latter leads him through the trees, to where he apparently has a sleigh waiting. Sam is silent and attentive as Gabriel talks, and he only has one question when the king is finished.

"You were going to marry a stranger?" he asks incredulously.

"Court, not marry," Gabriel says, waving a dismissive hand. "And Lucifer isn't a stranger."

"You've only known him for a day," Sam says. "There's no way you know everything about him."

"Of course not," Gabriel says. "But does anyone truly know everything about another person?"

"Touche."

"Besides, I have enough to go on. We have similar personalities and interests, and we get along great. What else is there to consider?"

Sam frowns and looks up at Gabriel, who's still riding on Admiral.

"Love?" he says in response to Gabriel's question. "That's kind of important for a marriage, or even a courtship."

Now Gabriel frowns.

"I don't love him," Gabriel says slowly. "But I think I could grow to."

Sam hums noncommittally. "I guess that's a start."

"What are you, some kind of love expert?" Gabriel asks teasingly.

"No, but I have friends who are very knowledgeable on matters of the heart," Sam says sagely. Gabriel laughs.

"Okay, well, until I get an opinion from an expert, I'm not changing my mind," he says. Sam chuckles and shakes his head, and Gabriel smiles dopily in response.

They reach the sleigh a few minutes later, and Gabriel has to admit that it's a pretty nice sleigh. The wood is glossy mahogany, and the seats are padded with red, velvety cushions. There are a few claw marks around the bottom of the sleigh, especially near the back, and there's no animal attached to the harness. Gabriel frowns.

"Sam," he says. "What happened to your sleigh?"

"We were attacked by wolves," Sam says. "They killed our reindeer and almost got my brother and I. It's how we were separated."

"Do you know if he's still alive?" Gabriel asks, a twinge of guilt making him wince slightly. Sam's no doubt trying to find his brother, and here Gabriel is making him go on a trip through the mountains to find Castiel. Then again, Gabriel offered to pay and Sam accepted, so he can't be _that_ worried about his brother.

"No, but I'm sure he is," Sam says confidently. "He can handle himself against few wolves. Okay, so if what you said about your brother is true, then I'm pretty sure that he's on the North Mountain, and the fastest way up there is by sleigh."

Sam looks meaningfully at Admiral, and Gabriel looks down at his horse consideringly. He doesn't doubt that Admiral can pull the sleigh, but they have been walking for a while with only a few breaks. Then again, it was much after midnight when Gabriel left Arendelle, and the horse didn't do anything strenuous yesterday, so he should be good to go for at least a few more hours.

Looking up, Gabriel nods his assent to Sam and removes himself from the saddle. He sinks almost immediately into the soft snow on the ground, but it doesn't come above the tops of his boots, so his feet stay comfortably warm and dry. He looks up at Sam, blinking in surprise when he sees how tall he is. Sam, too, seems amused by Gabriel's height, but refrains from making any comments because of Gabriel's warning look.

"So, Gabriel," Sam says as he leads Admiral to the sleigh. "How did you forget that your brother has magic?"

"I didn't forget because he never told me in the first place," Gabriel replies, watching interestedly as Sam starts fiddling with the many buckles that'll attach his horse to the sleigh. He looks up when Sam's hands still to find the latter frowning at him. "What?"

"He never told you?" Sam repeats, sounding confused, which in turn confuses Gabriel.

"No, why?"

"But that day with the trolls, he said that you wouldn't remember, which meant that at one point you knew," Sam mumbles. His voice is so low that Gabriel can't even be sure he heard what he heard, and it doesn't appear as if Sam is speaking to him anyway, so he ignores it in favor of settling himself in the sleigh. Admiral whinnies nervously when Gabriel leaves his line of sight, but Sam pulls something out of his pocket and feeds it to him, and the horse quiets down again.

"Ready?" Sam asks as he pulls himself up beside Gabriel.

"Ready," Gabriel replies. Sam flicks the reins and Admiral starts walking, and soon they're moving at a fast trot. Gabriel nearly falls out of the sleigh when they hit an unexpected bump, but manages to catch himself on the sides in time.

"Careful, Your Majesty," Sam says, amusement clear in his voice. "We wouldn't want you to fall out and break something."

"It would truly be a tragedy," Gabriel agrees, his solemn voice a complete contrast to Sam's light tone. It gets Sam to laugh, though, a deep, breathy sound that's more of a huff than anything else, but it still makes Gabriel smile in response.

"How far can your horse go before he needs rest?" Sam asks.

"He should be good for a few more hours," Gabriel replies. "We can't let him go more than that, though. Admiral will run himself into the ground if given half the chance."

"He's a workhorse?" Sam sounds surprised. "I didn't think that royalty would ride anything other than something pampered and elegant." If it were anyone else, Gabriel would have taken offense, but Sam managed to make the question sound curious rather than condescending or judgemental.

"Admiral isn't even _technically_ mine," Gabriel admits. "He used to pull carts before he was sold to the palace, and I just used to visit him a lot. We bonded, I guess, and when I eventually did start to ride horses, Admiral was the only one who I'd ride."

"It was the same between my brother and our reindeer," Sam says. "The Colonel loved Dean, and Dean never really liked any other animals, so The Colonel was the only one who Dean would let near the sleigh."

"I'm sorry about what happened to him," Gabriel says sincerely.

"The Colonel or Dean?"

"Both," Gabriel says. He turns his head and looks out over the snow on the ground as it rushes past, mood lowering as he remembers why he's even on this mountain in the first place. "I know what it's like to not know where your brother is or if he's okay, but I can't imagine what it would be like to lose Admiral."

There's a short pause as Sam shifts in his seat a little. Gabriel looks at him in surprise when he feels a hand covering his own.

"We'll find the prince," Sam says, his hazel eyes confident and sure, and Gabriel can't do anything but blink wordlessly in the face of so much conviction. Sam only leaves his hand there for a few seconds before pulling away and turning back to steering the sleigh, and Gabriel returns to watching the snow rush by.

.

A few hours later, Gabriel is barely keeping his eyes open. He hasn't slept in well over twenty-four hours, and he's exhausted. Sam keeps shooting him wary glances, as if he's afraid that Gabriel will pass out and topple over out of the sleigh, but every time he does Gabriel gives him an irritated look.

The energy that had flowed through him when Castiel had first revealed his powers is long gone, and Gabriel's forced to admit that if he ever comes on another search and rescue mission, he's probably gouge his own eyes out just to escape the boredom.

"When are we going to stop?" Gabriel asks, his eyes half-lidded and his words slightly slurred.

"Soon," Sam tells him. "There's a rest station not that far from here where we can stop for the night."

"Wake me up when we get there," Gabriel says, closing his eyes and slouching until he can rest his head on the back of the sleigh's seat. He opens them what feels like seconds later, confused and disoriented. Sam is gently shaking him awake, most of their bags slung over his shoulder.

"We're here," he says. "You've been sleeping for half an hour or so."

Gabriel hums in response, too tired to give up the energy it would take to speak. He pulls himself out of the sleigh and reaches for his bag, but Sam shifts it just out of his reach.

"The room is right there. I can handle carrying it for a few moments," he says in response to Gabriel's confused look. Gabriel's too tired to care, and stumbles after Sam as he leads him to their room. He looks around when they get inside, dimly notices the two soft-looking beds and the roaring fire (and he is so, so glad to get out of the cold), and then he falls face-first onto one of the beds and doesn't get up until morning.

.

When Gabriel wakes up, it's to find that someone has tucked him into the bed properly and taken off his cloak and boots. He sits up groggily, looking around the room as he stretches. Sam is asleep in the other bed still, snoring softly and drooling onto his pillow. Gabriel scoffs out a small, amused laugh and pulls himself out of bed, then pulls on his boots and cloak, both of which he finds at the foot of his bed.

The cold air succeeds in chasing away the last of his grogginess, and he shivers when he steps outside. In the light of day, and with no exhaustion clouding his mind, he can get his first good look around at the place where they spent the night.

He didn't notice last night, but the rest station isn't just one building. The biggest one is the barn, where the horses are kept. It's in the center of a circle of other buildings, each about half the size of the barn and containing two rooms. There's also a place in between two of the buildings where a few sleighs are kept, and outside the circle Gabriel can see another building that he assumes is a store or a trading post because of the sign out front.

He decides to check on Admiral first, then go check out the store. In the barn, it's noticeably warmer than outside, so much so that Gabriel considers taking off his cloak. There are at least a dozen stalls, about half of them occupied by horses of all different breeds. Admiral is easy to spot, being quite a bit taller than the other horses in the barn.

Gabriel makes his way over there, ignoring the musky smell and petting any horse that reaches out to sniff him as he passes. Admiral nickers at him rather loudly, dancing around in his stall and glaring angrily at the mare Gabriel is petting.

"Calm down, I'm coming," Gabriel says, laughing. He makes his way over to Admiral and reaches out to scratch him behind the ears, noting with pleasure that his horse seems to be well taken care of. His stall is clean and there's plenty of hay at the bottom, the water trough is filled with clean water, and Admiral has been brushed and covered with a blanket.

"It seems that you've had a nice night," Gabriel tells his horse fondly. With one last pat, he makes his exit and heads for the store he'd seen earlier. The sign confirms what he'd thought earlier, proclaiming in large yellow letters, "Wandering Robert's Trading Post and Sauna".

A bell chimes merrily when Gabriel opens the door and walks in. The store is small and filled with rows of wooden shelves, all of them filled with things ranging from children's toys to pickaxes. He even thinks he sees one shelf with sexual lubricant, and he blushes and quickly looks away. His gaze lands on a small trinket on a shelf in front of him, and he carefully picks it up.

It's a necklace made of twine, or maybe woven grass; thickly cut gems in a variety of sizes and shapes are tied all along the twine, each one glowing a light pink colour. When Gabriel touches one of the gems, they all change from pink to red.

"Whoa," he says quietly. Looking up, his gaze quickly falls on who he assumes to be the owner of the store. He's a gruff looking man with a scruffy beard and an odd hat sitting on his head. "Are you Robert?" Gabriel asks, walking up to the counter that the man sits behind.

"Call me Bobby," the man says. "Are you lookin' to buy that thing?"

"How much is it?" Gabriel asks.

Bobby looks appraisingly at the necklace. "Twenty," he decides after a moment.

"Twenty?" Gabriel repeats, his eyebrows raising.

"It's troll magic," Bobby explains. "They don't ever part with those necklaces; only way I found that one was by accident."

"Whoa," Gabriel says again. Trolls? That is severely cool. He pulls a leather pouch out of the pocket of his cloak and forks over the money without hesitation, drawing a startled little huff of a laugh from Bobby. The necklace feels cool against his skin when he puts it on, but it warms up quickly. The gems glow a fiery red against his skin, but it doesn't show when he tucks them underneath his cloak.

At that moment, the door burst open, startling both occupants of the room.

"Bobby, have you seen-"

Sam pauses when he spots Gabriel and Bobby, both of whom are staring at him with raised eyebrows.

"Oh," Sam says. "There you are."

"Were you worried?" Gabriel asks, his voice playful and teasing.

"No," Sam says, blushing. "I just wanted to make sure that I wouldn't get tried for treason because I lost the king."

"Because you lost the _what?"_ Bobby says, looking at Gabriel suspiciously. The latter gives a small wave.

"Gabriel, King of Arendelle," he introduces himself. "Nice to meet you." Bobby blinks at him for a moment, then leans back in his seat, drawing the brim of his hat over his eyes.

"I don't want to know," he says. "Sam, you better know what you're doing."

"I do," Sam says, offended. Bobby just hums disbelievingly, and Sam rolls his eyes and looks at Gabriel. "Ready to go?"

"Just need to grab my stuff," Gabriel replies. Sam gives him a slightly sheepish look. It's rather cute.

"I already put your stuff in the sleight. I hope you don't mind."

"Uh, no. I mean, I don't."

"Good," Sam says, smiling at him. "Then let's grab Admiral and hit the road. We can make it to the North Mountain today if we make good time."

"Really? We're that close?" Gabriel says excitedly. He grabs Sam's hand, practically dragging him out of the shop. "Let's go let's go let's go!"

Sam only has time to call out a quick farewell to Bobby before Gabriel manhandles him to the sleigh, and then the two of them are off, closer than ever to finding Castiel and ending the winter.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for the late update, lovelies. I was visiting my grandmother and she doesn't have wifi, so I wasn't able to update until now D: Anyway, here's the next chapter! Let me know what you think in the comments.**

* * *

"So did you buy anything from Bobby's?" Sam asks later when they're well on their way up the mountain. They'd gotten into a bit of a… situation with a hidden patch of ice and a ravine, and are now making their way up the mountain on foot due to the sleigh being in pieces at the bottom of said ravine. Admiral seems to be happy to be out of the harness, trotting along ahead of them and pausing every few steps to check that they're still following.

"I got this," Gabriel says, pulling the necklace from underneath his cloak. The gems have faded to the same dull pink that they'd been before, but at his touch they flare bright red again. To Gabriel's surprise, Sam's eyes widen.

"Is that a troll necklace?" he asks, his voice filled with awe. "Where did Bobby get that?"

"He said he found it," Gabriel explains.

"Of course he found it," Sam says, the scoff evident in his voice. "Trolls never part with their necklaces. They help grow their magic and are very important to them."

"How do you know?" Gabriel asks curiously. Sam reaches out and gently fingers one of the gems. He seems surprised when all of them fade to a pale pink, only to go red again when he lets them fall onto Gabriel's chest.

"My brother and I were raised by trolls since we were kids," Sam explains. "They have very powerful magic, you know. They're good at healing, especially magical ailments."

Gabriel's hand automatically reaches up to touch the white lock of hair on his head. He was born with it, he knows, but he dreamed that he was kissed by a troll and its magic left a physical reminder. Sam notices the movement but doesn't say anything, and they continue on their way in comfortable silence.

.

"Whoa," Gabriel says intelligently, blinking up at the sight before him. At his side, Sam looks to be holding back tears.

"Now that," he says reverently, "is ice. I may cry."

"If you do, I'll laugh at you," Gabriel warns, never taking his eyes off of the enormous ice castle nestled comfortably in the curve of the North Mountain. Despite his words, he really does agree with Sam; the castle is awe-inspiring, all sharp angles and tall, thin spires and gorgeous designs, glittering like diamonds in the light of the setting sun.

Admiral trots over to him and nudges him forward with his nose, making a soft huffing noise. Gabriel straightens his spine and nods determinedly, fighting back the urge to fiddle nervously with something.

"You're right," he tells his horse. "It's just Castiel. There's no reason to be nervous."

Sam chooses that moment to pipe up from behind Gabriel, saying, "If he can build this on his own in just a few days, I'd hate to see what he could do when angry."

"Not helping, Sam," Gabriel mutters, leading the way up the stairs. Admiral sits and waits patiently at the bottom, and Sam follows Gabriel, running his gloved hand up the railing gently. When they get to the top, Gabriel hesitates before knocking on the heavy-looking doors.

"Sam, maybe you should wait here," he says, and Sam narrows his eyes. "Just for a minute."

"You expect me to let you go in there by yourself? We don't know what Castiel is capable of," Sam says, and Gabriel rolls his eyes.

"This castle that he built using his _magic_ might be a good indication" he says sarcastically. "He's my brother, Sam; he's not going to hurt me." Seeing Sam about to protest again, he quickly adds, "If it'll make you feel better, you can come inside in a few minutes."

Sam studies Gabriel, who gives him a deadpan stare in return. "Fine," Sam says after a moment. "But if I hear one noise I think is out of place-"

"You'll swoop in like some ice-loving avenging angel, I got it," Gabriel says, turning back to the door. He raises his arm and knocks, jolting back a little when the doors immediately open. "Huh."

"That's creepy," Sam says.

"It's magic," Gabriel replies, stepping into the castle. The doors close behind him with a loud _bang!_ and Gabriel spins around in shock, almost tripping over his own feet. He can just barely see a blurry, distorted image on the other side of the ice that looks vaguely like Sam. The image is moving frantically, like it's panicking.

"I'm fine," he says loudly, hoping Sam will be able to hear him. When he doesn't get any reply, he turns and carefully starts walking towards the large staircase in the back of the foyer. He almost slips again when he steps onto the first stair, and only his iron-strong grip on the railing keeps him from falling.

He makes his way slowly up the stairs, and he's made it about halfway up when a voice stops him.

"Gabriel?"

Gabriel's head snaps up and he locks eyes with a shocked Castiel.

"Hi, Cas," he says, letting go of the railing with one hand to give a tiny wave. He almost falls again, and hurriedly grips the ice. "Nice place you got here."

"What are you doing here?" Castiel takes a single step forward, making his clothes swish and shimmer in the light and drawing Gabriel's attention to them for the first time.

"Whoa," Gabriel says, taking in the translucent cape, the large blue gem that holds it around his neck, and the ice coronet sitting in his nest of messy hair. "You look… different. It's a good different," he hastens to add, not wanting to offend. Luckily, Castiel only rolls his eyes fondly, but there's a small, pleased smile on his face.

"How did you get here?" he asks, walking effortlessly down the stairs ( _stupid magic ice powers,_ Gabriel thinks jealously, still gripping onto the railing like it's a lifeline) to take Gabriel's hand and help him stand.

"I walked, mostly," Gabriel tells him. They stumble down the stairs until they're on flat ground again, and Gabriel lets out a tiny sigh of relief. "But it seems you've been busy. I can't believe you made this on your own. This is incredible!"

"Thank you, Gabriel," Castiel says. Gabriel gives him a grin that he'll never admit is the slightest bit relieved. It drops when he bites his lip, looking contemplatively at his brother.

"So," he starts cautiously, not knowing how Castiel will react, "are you going to come home?"

It's like a switch has flipped. Castiel, who'd only seconds before been standing with his spine straight and his chin raised proudly, takes a few steps back from Gabriel and hunches his shoulders defensively.

"I can't, Gabriel," he says, gaze firmly on the floor. "I… I'm a danger to Arendelle, to everyone living in it. To you," he adds softly, looking up. Gabriel feels a pang in his chest at the miserable look on his face.

"Okay, look, I'm not one to sugar coat things," he says. "So I can admit that you probably have the power to destroy us all if you feel like it." Castiel flinches and Gabriel hurries to make his point. "But you won't, Castiel. I know you won't. You can control your magic, and if you don't know how, then you can learn. But please, at least try. I only just got you back after thirteen years of isolation; I can't lose you again."

Maybe it's the words themselves or the pleading tone that Gabriel says them in, or maybe it's the fact that it's Gabriel himself saying them and not some random messenger, but Castiel lets out a shaky breath and takes a small step closer. Gabriel tries not to let too much of his relief show.

Three quick knocks on the front door alert them to another presence, and they both turn in time to see Sam enter the castle. He smiles and gives an awkward wave to Castiel, whose defensive posture returns almost immediately.

"Who's this?" he asks warily.

Before Gabriel can answer, another person enters the foyer from a room on the ground floor. He's tall and has dirty blond hair, and his clothes are very similar to Sam's. He's looking at something small in his hand, and so doesn't notice that he's not alone.

"Hey, Cas, who are you talking to?" he asks, finally looking up. He freezes a bit when he notices Gabriel, but then his gaze slide to Sam and his eyes widen. "Sam?"

"Dean!" Sam replies happily, moving past Gabriel to embrace his brother.

"That's Sam?" Castiel asks Dean.

"That's _Dean?"_ Gabriel asks Sam.

The brothers pull back from their hug and Dean looks at Gabriel.

"Wait, is that your brother?" he asks Castiel, who nods. "He's shorter than I thought he'd be."

"I know the feeling," Castiel replies dryly while Sam nods in agreement, and Gabriel scowls.

"Okay, hold on. Are you trying to tell me that two pairs of brothers got split up and paired up with each other, the two of whom who were looking for their brother ending up together?" he asks. The other three glance at each other, then nod. "Wow. What a coincidence."

"Maybe," Castiel murmurs. Then he blinks and focuses on Gabriel. "You have to go back to Arendelle."

"I'm not leaving without you," Gabriel protests. "You belong in Arendelle as much as I do."

"No, I don't," Castiel insists, backing away a few steps. "I belong here, where I can be who I am without hurting anyone. Arendelle is safe as long as I'm far away from it."

Gabriel winces. "Actually…"

Castiel's eyes narrow and he pins Gabriel with a warning glare. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

Gabriel hears a muttered, "Uh-oh," from Dean, but he ignores it. "When you ran across the fjord you kind of, maybe, sort of set off an eternal winter?" Gabriel says, wringing his hands helplessly. Castiel's eyes widen and a small wind begins blowing around in the foyer, carrying with it the flurries that fall from the ceiling.

"I what?" Castiel repeats, shocked. His hands fist at his sides. "Gabriel, please tell me this is a prank."

Gabriel shakes his head. "It's not. But I'm sure you can fix it!"

"No, I can't. I don't know how," Castiel snaps, stepping even further away from Gabriel. "God, I'm such an idiot! I should have known that I can't escape the curse." The wind picks up until it's howling in the room, driving Sam and Dean back with the force of it. Gabriel is close enough to Castiel that he's only bothered by the flurries and tiny shards of ice the wind is whipping around.

"Cas, calm down!" he calls. "We can fix this, I know we can, but you have to come home first."

"Arendelle is not my home!" Castiel exclaims, his voice filled with pain. The wind gusts viciously, and Gabriel gasps when the walls begin to crack; it's not enough to destabilise the castle, but it's alarming all the same. "Can't you understand that I can't go back?"

"What, so you're just going to give up?" Gabriel asks hotly, his temper flaring up. Below his cloak, the troll necklace grows warmer as his anger rises, but he only barely notices it.

"Gabriel!" Sam calls, but he's ignored

"You created the problem, Castiel, the least you could do is try to fix it!"

" _I can't!"_ The wind suddenly dies down as all of the ice and snow that had been swirling in the air is sucked into the air near Castiel, only to be shot back outwards in the form of wickedly sharp icicles. Gabriel gasps when one strikes him in his chest, making everything freeze for a second.

"Gabriel!" Warm hands grasp onto his shoulders and pull him up, making Gabriel aware that he'd sunk to his knees. "Are you okay?" Sam asks, Dean not far behind him.

"I'm fine," Gabriel says somewhat breathlessly, removing his hand from his chest. There isn't even a wound, which means that the attack—involuntary though it seemed—was pure magic. Castiel's worried look turns relieved for all of a second before he schools his features.

"Go back to Arendelle, Gabriel," he says.

"I told you before, I'm not leaving without you."

Castiel's face hardens. "Yes, you are," he says, lifting his arms and slamming them down towards the ground. A flash of blue precedes the formation of a large, snowman with glowing blue eyes, sharp-looking pieces of ice sticking out of its shoulders, knees, and hands. It lifts Gabriel, Dean, and Sam up in one hand before they can so much as think to run, then carries them to the door and unceremoniously tosses them out.

The three of them yelp as they're tossed completely over the stairs, only to land relatively unharmed in a snowdrift. Gabriel growls angrily as he pulls himself out of the snow, grabbing a handful and forming a ball as he does.

"It is not nice to _throw people!_ " he shouts at the snowman, lobbing the snowball as hard as he can. Because of the distance, it barely manages to hit the snowman, exploding on contact into a flurry of powder, but the beast still roars in anger and flashes its icy teeth and claws. "Whoops."

"Real nice, Gabriel," Sam says dryly from behind him.

"Are you two insane?" Dean hisses, already scrambling away. "Run, idiots!"

"Come on!" Sam says, grabbing Gabriel's hand and tugging him along behind him. The snow is deep enough that they can't run very fast, but they duck into a copse of trees that'll make it hard for the snowman to follow them.

Gabriel focuses on the ground as he runs, trying to avoid falling and getting buried under three feet of snow, and so he doesn't notice that they've reached a cliff until he runs into Sam and nearly pitches them both over the edge.

"What do we do now?" Gabriel gasps, looking behind them. He can hear the snowman getting closer and closer, and see it in the way the trees are shaking as it pushes past them.

"We're going to make a snow anchor," Dean replies, digging a half circle in the snow. He pulls a rope off of his belt and ties it around his waist, then pulls Gabriel closer and ties it around his, too. The other end he tosses to Sam, who quickly tethers himself to the other two, then tosses the rest of the rope off the cliff.

"Jump on the count of three," he says, nodding to his brother.

"Are you crazy?" Gabriel exclaims. "We'll die!"

"There's at least twenty feet of fresh powder down there. It'll be like landing on a pillow," Dean reassures him. It doesn't really work. "Ready?" Sam nods, and Gabriel does the same, albeit with more reluctance. "Okay. One-"

Sam and Dean both suddenly pitch themselves off the cliff, dragging Gabriel with them. His yelp is lost to the wind as he suddenly becomes weightless, free falling and cursing the Winchesters in his head. He screws up his eyes, only opening them once the rope around his waist jerks him to a stop some ten feet below the edge of the cliff. He lets out a breath.

"For the record, I hate you both," he says as Sam grabs the loose rope and starts lowering them down. A tree, no doubt thrown by the snowman, falls past, narrowly avoiding taking Dean with it, and Gabriel blanches. "Sam, let's go, let's go, let's go!"

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Sam replies. They _are_ moving towards the ground, but it's not fast enough. At the top of the cliff, the snowman reaches them and grabs at the rope, starting to pull them up.

"Oh, come on!" Dean exclaims, reaching for something in his belt.

"Fuck off, you overgrown marshmallow!" Gabriel shouts up at the snowman. It merely growls at him in response. He rolls his eyes when he sees Dean bounce head first off of the cliff, and decides to take matters into his own hands. He grabs the hilt of his sword and draws it, waiting until the snowman has pulled them up to eye level before using it.

Dean is only half-conscious, Sam looks like he's going to piss himself, and Gabriel takes a second to silently sigh at them.

" _Don't come back!"_ the snowman roars at them, coating them all in frost and snow.

"We won't," Gabriel promises before swinging his blade with as much force as he can muster, slicing the snowman's arm off at the elbow and sending Sam, Dean, and himself plunging once more off the cliff.

With nothing to ensure that they're not going to end up as pancakes, the three of them scream with terror the whole way down. Gabriel once more shuts his eyes and screams until he can't anymore, when the pressure renders him physically incapable of letting a single sound escape.

But just as soon as it starts, it's over, and Gabriel lets out an undignified squeak as he suddenly jolts to a stop in a pile of something soft and cold. Panting from fear, he tentatively opens one eye, letting out a relieved sigh when he sees that he and the Winchester brothers have landed relatively safely on the snow.

"Huh," he says, pulling himself out of the snow. "You guys were right. Just like a pillow."

"Yup," Sam agrees shakily, helping Dean to his feet. Admiral trots over to them then, obviously having found another, less dangerous way down the mountain. He sticks his nose into Gabriel's chest and huffs, and Gabriel gives his nose a fond stroke.

"How's his head?" Gabriel asks, walking over to them and reaching out a gloved hand, fingers stopping a few inches away from Dean's forehead.

"I'm fine," Dean assures them, gingerly poking at his skull. "I've got a thick skull."

Sam snorts at that, shaking his head a little. He frowns a bit and looks at Gabriel.

"So, now what?" he asks. Gabriel gives him a bemused smile, then pales when comprehension dawns.

"Oh, my god, he kicked me out," he says, just now realising the implications of that. Agitated, he turns and paces a few steps away, kicking up snow as he goes. His hands come up to fiddle with each other nervously. "Oohh, what am I going to do? I can't go back to Arendelle with the weather like this!"

"Gabriel," Sam calls, but Gabriel ignores him.

"The people are dying, Sam!" Gabriel exclaims dramatically.

"Oh, lord," Dean mutters.

"Oh, man, I had one job! And speaking of jobs, your ice business will suffer because of this-"

"Hey, don't worry about our ice business," Sam says soothingly, grabbing one of Gabriel's hands and pulling it away from the other. "We'll be fine."

Dean's head pops up from behind Sam's shoulder, eyeing Gabriel critically.

"Is your hair supposed to be turning white?" he asks. Gabriel frowns.

"What?"

"No, Gabriel, he's right," Sam says, his eyebrows furrowing. "It's not just the one streak anymore."

"It's because Cas struck you, isn't it?" Dean asks seriously, and Gabriel eyes him contemplatively. _So it's 'Cas' to you, is it? Interesting._ But now's not the time, he firmly reminds himself.

"This is… bad?" Gabriel asks. Dean and Sam raise their eyebrows at each other.

"Probably," Sam agrees. "We should get it looked at, just in case."

"And who's going to do that?" Gabriel asks. "In case you haven't noticed, we're on a mountain."

"The trolls won't care about that," Dean says, and Gabriel zeroes in on him like a hawk.

"Trolls?" he repeats.

"Yeah, Gabriel," Sam says, obviously amused. "We know some trolls, remember? And they're good at magic, so they might be able to help you."

"Wait, actual trolls? I thought you were joking!" Gabriel's excited now, bouncing in place on the balls of his feet. The necklace under his cloak grows warm for a second.

"Yes, actual trolls," Sam laughs.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Gabriel grabs Sam's hand and eagerly starts pulling him away, Sam laughing along as he allows himself to be manhandled. Dean shakes his head in amusement, then follows behind with Admiral.

From up ahead, he hears Sam shout, "Gabriel, watch out for that snowdrift!"

There's a yelp, and Dean chuckles to himself even as he hears Sam sigh. This is going to be interesting.


	5. Chapter 5

The trolls sure take their sweet time revealing themselves, though Gabriel's not really surprised; trolls are a secretive people, after all. They seem shocked to see him, even more so when they recognize him as the king, and they all practically faint when his necklace falls out of his cloak. To be fair, it is partially their fault; they'd been tossing him around in a ridiculous bid to make him see what a good life partner Sam would be.

Not that Gabriel needed an entire song and dance to make him realise that, but hello? Lucifer is still waiting for him back in Arendelle, and there's no way Gabriel would leave him. Probably. Anyway.

As the trolls recover from the shock of seeing the king with one of their necklaces, Gabriel stumbles his way over to Sam and Dean. The former looks just as dizzy as Gabriel feels, and he sticks his tongue out when Dean simply laughs at them.

"I tried to warn you," the older Winchester says. "They can be a bit… much."

"Are you kidding? This is incredible!" Gabriel responds. One of the troll children comes up to him and tugs on the edge of his cloak, prompting him to crouch so that they'll be closer to eye level.

"Hey, mister, are you really going to marry Sam?" she asks. Gabriel laughs.

"Sorry, I don't think so. He snores too loud for me to ever love him," Gabriel says dramatically, grinning when Sam pouts.

"Are you really the king?" the troll girl goes on.

"Yup."

"Have you ever had someone executed?"

"Not yet," Gabriel tells her, winking and making her giggle.

"Is your hair supposed to be turning white?"

"Of course it's no- wait, what?"

The girl blinks up at him, her smile disappearing in the face of his shocked look.

"Your hair," she repeats. "It's turning white. Are humans not supposed to do that?"

"Oh, no," Gabriel whispers to himself, his heart picking up its pace. He'd completely forgotten why they'd come to the trolls in the first place, and the reminder only serves to make him anxious. He stands up quickly but is unprepared for the sudden bout of dizziness that hits him, making him sway and tip to the side when he tries to walk.

All of a sudden, Sam is there, steadying him and hissing a curse quiet enough that the troll girl doesn't overhear.

"Crap, Gabriel, I'm sorry, I completely forgot," he says, slipping an arm underneath Gabriel's to help support him.

"N-not your fault," Gabriel stammers through his shivering. He's freezing suddenly, but no amount of subtly burrowing into Sam's side alleviates the cold. If anything it makes it worse, since the cold seems to be coming from inside of him.

"Grand Pabbie," Sam says, relieved, when one of the trolls comes rolling towards them. He gently lowers them both to the ground to give Pabbie better access. The troll places his hand on Gabriel's forehead and the king is struck with the strangest feeling of déjà vu; at least, he is until Pabbie pulls his hand back with a grave expression on his face.

"I cannot heal him," he says and Gabriel's heart sinks.

"But you've done it before," Dean says, sounding horrified.

"If it were his head, that would be easy, but I am not powerful enough to heal the heart." To his credit, Pabbie sounds genuinely distraught, and Gabriel can see nothing but regret shining in his eyes when he takes his hands. "Listen to me very carefully, Gabriel," he says, and Gabriel tries to quell his shivering so that he doesn't miss anything important. "There is ice in your heart, put there by your brother. If not removed, to solid ice will you freeze forever."

"What?" Gabriel gasps, eyes wide.

"I'm sorry, Gabriel, but only an act of true love can that a frozen heart."

Gabriel looks at Sam and sees that they've drawn the same conclusion.

"Lucifer," they say in unison.

"We need to get you back to Arendelle," Sam says. Gabriel nods jerkily and puts his fingers in his mouth, letting out a shrill whistle. Admiral looks up from the troll child he was nosing and carefully picks his way over to them. Sam lifts himself up into the saddle, then pulls Gabriel in front of him, the horse dancing nervously when he senses all the fear and anxiousness radiating off of everyone. Gabriel looks down at Dean's anxious face and then at how Sam is giving the same look back to Dean, and makes a decision.

"Admiral c-can hold all three of us," he says, and Dean lets out what sounds suspiciously like a relieved sigh. He wastes no more time in pulling himself onto Admiral, in front of Sam. Gabriel finds himself bundled in Sam's lap, with one side smooshed against him and the other side smooshed against Dean. It's warm, but not warm enough to stop his shivering.

"Good luck," Pabbie says. The other trolls watch on with somber expressions as the three prepare to leave. Just before they go, Gabriel calls a halt.

"Here," he says, reaching up towards the necklace around his neck. "I should give this b-back."

"Keep it," Pabbie tells him. "It may be of use to you later on."

Gabriel blinks at the cryptic message, then nods his thanks and lets his hand fall into his lap. Even that small action tired him out more than he'd care to admit.

"Alright, Dean, let's go!" Sam says, and Dean flicks the reins. Admiral takes of running, nearly tossing Sam and Gabriel off until the former gets an arm around Dean and secures his grip. The trolls live in the Valley of the Living Rock, which Gabriel was surprised to find is at the bottom of the mountain, and a lot closer to Arendelle than he'd thought. It'll only take them two or three hours to get back to the kingdom, but Gabriel isn't certain that he won't freeze before they get there.

* * *

Gabriel hasn't even been gone for fifteen minutes when Castiel finds himself fighting for his life against two very familiar men. He didn't talk much with Duke Alistair at Gabriel's coronation, but he'd have to be blind to not notice the two thugs he was always near. Those two thugs are now doing their very best to put an arrow through him, and Castiel's doing his very best to not let that happen. Luckily for him, his magic seems to be very instinctual and doesn't need much thought from him in order to stop arrows and keep the men back.

He flicks his wrist up and a spike of ice shoots up out of the ground underneath the feet of the taller thug, who rolls to the side just in time. Before he can get to his feet, Castiel sends a blast of ice his way that slams him into the wall behind him. It'll only be enough to stun him at most, so Castiel takes advantage of whatever time he's bought himself to deal with the other guard.

Throwing himself to the side to avoid another arrow, he throws his arm out and freezes the man's crossbow, rendering it useless. The man throws it aside and charges Castiel, who raises his eyebrows and nonchalantly steps to the side, sticking his foot out and tripping the man as he runs past.

He goes flying into the other guard, who had only just gotten up. They both go down in a pile of limbs and Castiel smiles mirthlessly, fingers flexing as he creates a giant cage of ice around the men, who snarl at him angrily. Their eyes widen when two opposing walls become solid and start to grow, slowly pressing towards each other and threatening to crush the men to death. Cursing violently, the two push against the walls with all their strength and manage to halt the walls' progress.

Castiel growls and pushes harder with his magic, sweat beginning to bead on his brow for the first time in his life from how hard he's concentrating. Ice magic unfortunately doesn't grant the wielder super strength, or the men would have already been dead by now, but they can't keep going forever whereas Castiel isn't putting any huge amount of physical strain on himself.

"Prince Castiel!"

Castiel looks over his shoulder to find Prince Lucifer standing there with a few other men that Castiel recognises as guards from Arendelle Castle. Too lost to his anger to care at this point, Castiel stares at him defiantly as he continues to crush the two men who'd dared to attack him in his own domain.

"Don't be the monster they fear you are," Lucifer pleads, and Castiel pauses. Panting slightly from his fight, he stops the stream of magic and straightens up from his defensive position. The relief on Lucifer's face is clear as day, and Castiel feels a little guilty for losing himself to his emotions. Only a little, though, because after thirteen years of hiding his emotions behind a cold, indifferent mask, letting them consume him had been exhilarating.

 _Crack!_

Castiel looks up, eyes widening with terror when he makes out the huge shape of his ice chandelier heading straight towards him. The cracks that had grown in the castle walls in response to his emotions must have made their way to the ice holding the thing up.

Everything seems to slow down and for a second, Castiel isn't capable of doing anything but stare as the chandelier gets closer and closer.

And then everything catches up and he can hear Lucifer shouting something and his own blood rushing in his ears and his heart pounding wildly in his chest and the out of place tinkling sound of ice when the sunlight hits it, and he throws his arm up and pushes with his magic just as the chandelier reaches him and it doesn't hit him but it hits something and then everything becomes fuzzy and he sways and his vision darkens and-

* * *

By the time they reach the castle, Gabriel is shivering so hard that speaking is much harder than it should be. The guards stationed above the gate recognise him even with his now almost completely white hair, and the gates are opened just as Admiral reaches them.

Sam and Dean hop down and Sam helps Gabriel slide out of the saddle. The head maid hurries over to them and helps hold up his weight, clucking worriedly the whole time. One of the guards takes Admiral's reigns and starts to lead him into the castle courtyard, but Gabriel shakes his head.

"S-sam c-can have h-h-him," he mutters. It's very quiet but luckily the maid hears him and relays his orders to the guard. They all give him surprised looks; they know how much he loves his horse. He merely shrugs as much as he's able, not really able to talk anymore; even if he'd been able, he wouldn't have known how to explain that it's very important to him that the Winchesters get home safely. The maid beings to lead him away and Gabriel barely manages to look back at the Winchesters before the gates close, leaving the king on one side and his only friends in the world on the other.

By the time they make it to the castle proper, Gabriel's shivering has gotten so bad that the maid is practically dragging him up the steps. A guard quickly rushes towards them, asking questions in a shocked tone of voice, but Gabriel ignores him for the most part. Then the guard takes Gabriel's other arm and begins to walk faster than the maid could, and they're inside the castle soon.

The warm air should have been a relief, but all it does is make Gabriel shudder. It draws attention to the fact that his hands feel like blocks of ice and his face stings as if its being pelted by ice crystals riding on a biting wind, and he wants nothing more than for it to end. Much as he wants to go back outside where the pain wasn't as intense, his only chance is Lucifer and the hope that the prince feels more for Gabriel than he'd expressed.

Every single person they pass is as shocked as the guard had been when they see him, but the two don't stop until they reach one of the lounges in the guest quarters where all the ambassadors and visiting royalty has been staying. They barge into the room, obviously interrupting something as Lucifer is there, along with Duke Alistair and the four dignitaries from France, Germany, Ireland, and Spain. Gabriel only has eyes for Lucifer, whose own eyes widen almost comically when he takes in the state Gabriel's in.

Everyone else, too, seems just as appalled.

"Your Majesty!" the Spaniard exclaims, alarmed. Gabriel ignores him and reaches out towards Lucifer, who practically sprints to his side once he realises what the king wants.

"Gabriel, what happened?" he cries, gripping Gabriel's arms tight enough to hurt and looking him over for injuries.

"Lucifer, you have to k-k-kiss me!" Gabriel says as firmly as he's able. "N-now!"

"What?" Lucifer looks baffled, as do the others, but the guard quickly recovers and ushers everyone out so that Gabriel and Lucifer are alone. The latter carefully guides them both to the couch and Gabriel sinks gratefully onto it, gripping his cloak tight around his shoulders. "Gabriel, what happened to you out there? Why is your hair all white?"

"C-cas struck me with his p-powers," Gabriel says quietly, and Lucifer's eyes narrow.

"I thought you said he wouldn't hurt you," he says.

"I don't think he m-meant to do it on p-purpose," Gabriel says. "It was m-my f-fault anyway; I sh-shouldn't have p-pushed him into c-coming home."

"It's not your fault that he can't control his magic," Lucifer says firmly, taking Gabriel's hand in his. "But what can we do to help you?"

"Kiss m-me," Gabriel says earnestly.

"So you said, but how-"

"The t-trolls said that an act of t-true l-love can thaw a f-frozen heart," Gabriel explains. Lucifer blinks, understanding dawning in his blue eyes. His gaze flickers down to Gabriel's lips, and the king flicks his tongue out in anticipation. Ever so slowly, Lucifer leans in and presses his lips to Gabriel's in a sweet kiss.

Nothing happens.

Gabriel's eyes widen and he gasps when he feels the familiar tingling sensation that accompanies a lock of his hair turning white. Lucifer pulls back sharply and curses. They look at each other with worry in their eyes, neither of them willing to focus on the implications of the kiss not working.

"I'm going to get a healer," Lucifer promises. He stands up quickly, presses one more peck to Gabriel's lips, then strides out of the room. Gabriel is left shivering on the couch in shock, wondering what in the world he's supposed to do now.

* * *

As if reflecting the turmoil in Gabriel's mind, the world outside the castle (and spreading inside the castle, now, too) is facing similar chaos.

In the castle dungeons, Prince Castiel wakes up and demands to see his brother. A foolish guard describes the state the king was in when he returned, and in his distress Castiel calls up a blizzard unlike anything Arendelle has ever seen before. The people panic, and in the confusion Castiel manages to escape, though even he is hindered by the snow and wind and can't make his way back to the forest across the frozen fjord.

Inside the castle, Prince Lucifer rushes from room to room, hoping to find someone to help him and Gabriel, but everyone is busy trying to deal with the sudden snow storm. The Prince looks at the frost on the window and decides that the only person who can solve the problem is the one who caused it. After rushing back to his room to grab his warmest clothes, he makes his way outside, determined to find Castiel.

The Duke of Weselton has similar ideas. Angered by his guards' failure at killing the prince, he dons his sword belt and makes his way onto the fjord, searching for Castiel so that he may eliminate the threat once and for all. At this point, he doesn't care who sees him or what they'll think of him.

Way outside of Arendelle, Admiral and the Winchesters slowly make their way back to the trolls. Sam is lost in thoughts of Gabriel, Dean of Castiel, and both of them are wondering how the Arendellian royals are doing. Admiral, looking behind him, sees the blizzard growing over the castle and whinnies to catch the brothers' attention. They see the storm and, without even pausing to hesitate, they turn and start running back to the kingdom's capital.

And amidst all of this confusion and chaos, one king sits shivering on a couch, freezing to death despite the fire blazing in the hearth. The last of his hair turns white and his fingertips are painted with frost patterns. He freezes, alone and forgotten. The ice spreads quickly, from his fingers and toes, up his arms and legs, across his torso and face until it reaches his heart, and then-

In between one heartbeat and the next, a change overcomes the king, a change woken up by his brother's dangerous magic. His heart beats and the ice melts all at once, leaving him wet and cold, though even that doesn't last when the change is finally completed.

Amidst all the confusion and chaos, one king sits on a couch, shivering no longer. He lets out a deep breath. His heart beats. It beats again. He opens his eyes.

* * *

Everyone converges on the ice field, close to the castle yet too far away for help to reach. Sam and Dean, riding on Admiral, come across Castiel and two other men. One of the men is saying something to the prince and the other is still far away, but closing the distance quickly. The man closest to the prince says something that causes Castiel to freeze, then slowly sink to the ground. The blizzard stops suddenly, and in the absence of noise everything is deathly still.

Sam leaps off of Admiral almost before the horse is even stopped. He doesn't take any steps closer to the prince, though, unsure of what's going on. No one has noticed the Winchesters yet. With a start, Sam realises that Castiel is crying. His shoulders shake with sobs as he crouches on the ice, oblivious to everything going on around him. The man, a tall, thin, important-looking man, grins and draws his sword slowly so that it makes nearly no noise. He raises it up and steps purposefully towards the downed prince, and Sam, Dean, and the other man (who's pretty close to the action now) all yell at once.

"Castiel!" they shout, and the prince starts and looks up. His eyes widen and he lifts his hands, but he's not going to move fast enough to do anything. Sam, his heart in his throat, starts forward, though he knows he's not going to make it in time, and-

An enormous ball of fire slams into the man just before his sword make contact with the prince and he's thrown backwards with a scream. The small flames on his clothes are quickly smothered by the ice, but no one's even looking at him. Everyone turns to the direction the fireball had come from, and Sam feels his mouth drop open in shock.

Gabriel is standing there with his arm still outstretched. His hair, now back to its normal golden brown colour, is literally flaming, as are his hands, though the flames have an odd golden tint to them. His cloak and thick winter clothes are gone, replaced by black pants, shirt, and boots, run through by cracks glowing a fierce orange that look like lava. His shoulders are adorned by a cape made of actual flames that flutter and whip about though there's no breeze.

Everyone is silent as he walks across the ice, his face expressionless. He goes and crouches by his stunned brother, the flames slowly extinguishing until his hair and hands are back to normal, and his cape is gone, leaving him in just the shirt, pants, and boots. He gives a small smile.

"Hey, Cassie," he says softly, though no one has any problems hearing him. He offers a hand to Castiel, who takes it, looking at his brother as if in a daze. Gabriel pulls them both up and Castiel wastes no time in pulling him into a fierce hug. Gabriel squeezes back just as tight.

"I thought you were dead!" he wails, muffled in Gabriel' shoulder.

"You gave it your best shot, but I've always been stronger than you," Gabriel teases. Castiel mumbles something else that Sam can't hear, but it makes Gabriel laugh. As he's wondering if it would be rude to interrupt, Dean barrels past him, running up to the royals and throwing his arms around both of them with an ecstatic shout. Sam rolls his eyes but joins them, and Gabriel grins up at him and wraps an arm around his waist.

"I'm incredibly confused," says the other man, walking up to them. Gabriel shrugs as much as he's able.

"Castiel was born on the winter solstice," he says. "Mom always figured that was the reason he has ice magic, since the solstices are good for magic. I was born on the summer solstice and never showed any magical abilities. I guess I was just a late bloomer."

The man—Sam assumes he's Prince Lucifer, and he feels a hot stab of something sour in his gut at the thought—nods as if this makes perfect sense, which it does, in a way. The other man groans from his place on the ground, and Gabriel scowls and disentangles himself so he can walk over there. Sam follows behind him subtly, ready to jump into action if anything happens. So focused is he on Gabriel that he misses the assessing look Lucifer gives him.

Gabriel nudges the man with his boot. "Get up, Duke."

The Duke blinks up at him uncomprehendingly, then snarls and leaps to his feet, hand reaching for his sword belt. Sam starts forward, but Gabriel is faster. He puts a finger on the hilt of the sword and it becomes red hot instantaneously. The Duke drops it with a pained cry.

"Are you going to kill me?" he says to Gabriel with a sneer, cradling his burned hand to his chest.

"Of course not," Gabriel replies. "I'm not like _you_ , Duke Alistair. I just wanted to tell you something."

"And what's that?"

Gabriel's fist moves faster than anyone can react, and the Duke falls back to the ground with a yelp and a bloody nose. Cheering erupts from behind them, and not just from the group huddled on the ice. Sam looks up and smirks at the richly dressed men watching from a balcony; all of them are clapping and laughing.

"You probably would have seen that coming if you'd had siblings," Gabriel says smugly. The Duke glares, his hand pressed to his nose, and Sam figures it's an inside thing. Castiel and the others hurry up to them.

"Gabriel, what about the winter?" the prince asks anxiously. Gabriel smiles widely.

"I can end it," he says. "And I know you can, too, but we can work on that later. For now…."

He spreads his arms out wide and they burst into flames again. His hair does, as well, and the cape materialises, though it's much bigger than earlier. Closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath, Gabriel lifts his hands above his head slowly, then brings them down sharply to his sides. A shockwave erupts with him as the center, travelling far and fast. As it goes, the ice melts and the clouds disperse, and within moments it's as if the winter never was.

Sam expects to be dumped in the water, but Castiel has created a platform of ice on the water that keeps them up, and Gabriel keeps it from spreading farther than it needs to. In this way they make it back to dry land, though the Duke is forced to swim. There are five guards waiting for him when he makes it to shore, all of them glaring daggers at the man.

Gabriel turns and smirks at Sam, wiggling his eyebrows, and the latter chuckles, feeling relief coursing through him that everything turned out alright.


	6. Chapter 6

It's with a sense of relief that Gabriel sees the dignitaries off two days after discovering his powers. Not that he doesn't like them, because they're all wonderful people, but these past two days have been hectic and stressful and filled with anxiety. With luck, he won't have to go through anything like this ever again.

Gabriel stands on the docks with Castiel, both of them smiling as the French dignitary has his personal guard toss Alistair and his guards into a cell on his ship.

"I will return this scoundrel to his own country," he says, his accent thick yet still easy to understand. "We'll see what his king has to say about his behaviour."

"Arendelle thanks you, My Lord," Kai says, not even bothering to hide his smirk. He turns to the Duke and unrolls the scroll Gabriel wrote last night. The king and prince leave the chamberlain to it, already aware of what's written down on it. They run into Lucifer watching as his trunks are loaded onto his own ship. Castiel nudges Gabriel forward with as much subtlety as a bull in a china shop before making his way over to the Irish ambassador, who somehow managed to rope Gerda, the head maid, into dancing with him.

"Hello," Lucifer says, coming up behind him.

"Hello," Gabriel replies softly without turning around.

"Are you okay?" Lucifer asks, because they haven't really had a chance to talk over the past few days. Gabriel does turn at that, smiling at his friend.

"I'm exhausted and still stressed and more than a little wary, if I'm being honest, but I'm also more satisfied than I've ever been in my life," he admits.

"I know how you feel. Arendelle isn't even my kingdom but I was just as worried as you when the people's' representative came to give his answer."

The day after Gabriel had learned of his powers and gotten rid of the winter, he'd called all of the city's most prominent families together and told them exactly what had taken place, leaving nothing out. They'd all been shocked, of course, and he'd left them with a decision to make: they could either accept Gabriel and Castiel and trust that they'd learn to control their powers, or the two monarchs would leave and never return, and the people could choose a new ruler if they so wished.

Yesterday, thy'd sent a representative with their answer, and everyone had been relieved when he proudly proclaimed that Gabriel and Castiel were his king and prince, and he'd not have it any other way. With all that out of the way, it was time for the dignitaries to go back to their own countries, and so here they are. Everything turned out okay.

"I'm just glad everything worked out," Gabriel sighs. He looks up a Lucifer, furrowing his brows. "But, Lucifer, we need to talk."

"Yes, I know we do," the prince says. He plows on before Gabriel can say anything, saying, "And I think you should choose him."

Gabriel blinks. "Excuse me?"

"The kiss didn't work, Gabriel," Lucifer says, smiling sadly. "And it's probably because we rushed. We never gave ourselves time to actually stop and think about what was going on, and I think that's why we wouldn't have worked. But with Sam, I can see potential. I've seen the way you look at each other, how you act around each other. It's the same way Dean acts with Prince Castiel."

Gabriel grimaces a bit at the reminder; walking in on your younger brother pushing someone up against a wall in order to shove his tongue down their throat is not how he'd expected to be greeted yesterday morning.

"Alright. I trust you," Gabriel says simply. The captain of Lucifer's ship calls for everyone to board up. Before the prince can say anything, Gabriel reaches up and presses a quick kiss to his lips.

"What was that for?" Lucifer asks.

"To honour what could have been," Gabriel replies before turning. "Goodbye, Prince Lucifer. Smooth sailing and a long, prosperous life to you."

Gabriel is already halfway up the docks when Lucifer replies. "And to you, as well, King Gabriel."

Gabriel smiles but doesn't turn around, instead going to find his brother. They watch in silence as the ships depart one by one, and neither of them move until the large, white sails are gone from view.

"Gabriel?" Castiel says. "Are you okay?"

Gabriel sighs. "I'm fine, Cas; just done, I think, with romance for a long while."

Castiel chuckles. "Good. It's overrated, anyway."

"Says the man who practically molested the older of the Official Arendellian Ice Masters," Gabriel replies as he and his brother turn and walk back to their horses. Admiral is the Ice Masters' horse and pulls their brand new sleigh, so Gabriel's horse of choice is now a gorgeous bay Irish sport horse stallion, a gift from one of the dignitaries. His name is Streak, which is incredibly fitting; when he wants to, the horse can run so fast he's nothing more than a brown streak.

"I did not molest," Castiel protests as he mounts his pitch black mare. "It was completely consensual."

"Ew, too much information," Gabriel says, laughing. He mounts his own steed and spurs him on with a sharp flick of his reins. "Race you to the castle!" he calls behind him. Castiel shouts in protest and quickly follows, and Gabriel lets out a laugh as he races along the streets towards home.

Yes, everything turned out okay.

* * *

 **Whoo, that was a wild ride. Writing this thing was so stressful and I don't even know why, honestly. On that note, I'm thinking about writing a sequel to explore Gabriel and Castiel's powers, and the relationships between them and the Winchesters. Thoughts? Ideas for a plot for the second installment?**


End file.
